for Oil and Gas
in Minnesota
THE SEARCH
for Oil and Gas
•
In
Minnesota
by
G.B. Morey
Minnesota Geological Survey
Educational Series 6
ISSN 0544-3083
l5i1
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
Saint Paul-1984
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
96'
Frontispiece. Locations of the reported natural gas (0) and "oil" ( + )
occurrences in Minnesota described in the text.
1
INTRODUCTION
The fossil fuels-coal, oil, and natural gas-are essential in Minnesota. We use much fuel justto keep warm
in winter. Automobiles need gasoline. Trucks and tractors run on diesel fuel. Of the energy consumed in the
state, almost 45 percent derives from oil, about 23
percent is natural gas, and roughly 22 percent is coal,
about five-sixths of which is used to produce electricity.
Nuclear energy, used to produce electricity, makes up
the remaining 10 percent of the state's energy consumption. Aside from the unknown potential of the vast
peatlands of northern Minnesota, the state has no fossil
fuels of its own, and all must be imported from outside the
state.
The need was acute even during the early days of
statehood, when the problem was compounded by the
lack of a year-round, reliable transportation network.
Aggressive exploration by private individuals for fuel
deposits that could be used locally did lead to the
discovery of several small coal and natural gas deposits
before the turn of the century. None of them, unfortunately, proved to be of commercial importance.
Most of the natural gas discoveries in Minnesota were
accidental. Many were spectacular. A few were tragic.
Not one was profitable as a commercial venture. But the
incentives are strong, and the search continues. Today,
after mi II ions of dollars have been invested in hundreds of
wells, and after 100 years of frustration, what have
Minnesotans learned? Not nearly enough is the answer
that this history would suggest.
BRIEFING ON PETROLEUM
The idea that large petroleum deposits "are waiting to
be found" in Minnesota is an idea that is sti II widely held.
Unfortunately, it is based almost entirely on misunderstandings as to (1) how oil and gas form in nature, (2) how
they are concentrated into deposits large enough to be
worth drilling, and (3) how such deposits can be found.
This report was prepared to help Minnesota's citizens
understand why the Minnesota Geological Survey (MGS)
still believes, as itdid in 1889, that commercially exploitable petroleum deposits are not to be found in the state.
Petroleum is an organic substance made up of molecules composed primarily of hydrogen and carbon atoms
(hydrocarbons) combined in various ways. When hydrocarbons occur in rocks, they are known as petroleum,
from the Latin for rock (petra) and oil (oleum). Most
petroleum is either a vapor (natural gas) or a liquid (crude
oil). Tar sands and oil shale are solid phases.
How Petroleum Originates
Petroleum forms from the remains of organisms that
lived in large bodies of water or were washed down into
them with mud and silt from rivers and streams. The
organic matter accumulated in the sediments as they built
up on the seafloor (Fig. 1). Over time, and beneath
additional layers, the sediments were compacted and
sol idified to sandstone, shale, and limestone or dolomite.
Decay of organic matter at or near the surface generally involves oxygen in the atmosphere and produces
carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) and water (H 2 0). However, if
decay occurs where oxygen is excluded, as in a deeply
buried pile of sediments, hydrocarbons will be produced.
The simplest of these is methane (CH 4 ). This compound
is a gas, and natural gas is chiefly methane, but may
include other simple hydrocarbon compounds that contain four orfewer carbon atoms per molecule. Hydrocarbon compounds that contain a large number of carbon
atoms per molecule form liquids, and naturally occurring
crude oil consists of complex mixtures of various types of
hydrocarbons.
Not all natural gas has anything to do with the crude
oil. In its definition of the petroleum series, the American
Geological Institute's Glossary of Geology states, "The
gases usually exclude methane when it occurs as marsh
gas." Marsh gas is methane produced from rotting vegetation in swamps and peat bogs.
Organic-rich layers in sedimentary rocks that did not
achieve the heat needed to produce crude oil may
nonetheless contain natural gas. Methane also can be
produced from plant-derived organic matter, largely
peat, that has been buried within clayey glacial deposits.
The explosive coal mine gas called firedamp is methane.
Where stagnant swamp water is poor in oxygen,
bacterial destruction of the plants is incomplete, and the
remains accumulate as peat. Deposits of coal are the
result of burial of peat by younger sediments following a
2
Petroleum
rise of sea level or subsidence of the swamp area . Deeper
burial of the low-grade coal (lignite) found in Minnesota- and con sequent pressure and heat-would have
produced bituminous coal or anthracite, or if too deep, a
graphite-like end product. But not crude oil.
For crude oil to result, not only must oxygen have
been excluded, but the organic material must have been
buried deeply enough to have been heated to between
120 and 300°F for a million years or more. This so-called
" petroleum window" is but a small part of the temperature variation of the earth's crust. If subjected to too much
heat, any oi I that has formed is destroyed. atural gas that
formed in conjunction with crude oil could have formed
both below and above the petroleum window.
If you have read John McPhee's delightful book, In
Suspect Terrain , you know that geologists currently use
the color variations of microfossils known as conodonts
as a " geothermometer. " Minnesota's sandstones, shales,
and limestones contain these fossils, but their pale color
and pristine condition indicate that the rocks never
reached the heat of the petroleum window. "Oil" occurrences in the state are thus rather a puzzle.
Figure 1. Origin of petroleum .
+
+
++
+++
..
+
...
+
...
+
c
+
++
+
+
••
+
••
•
+
•
+
+
+
+
+
A, animals and plants in an ancient shallow sea die;
their remains--especially the remains of single-celled
plants called algae-accumulate in mud and silt on the
seafloor. B, perhaps millions of years later, plant and
animal life still exists in the sea, and their remains
continue to accumulate. However, the sedimentary sequence has increased in thickness; the more deeply
buried mud is altered to shale and its organic material to
petroleum . C, at a still later time, the sea no longer exists.
The rocks have been somewhat flexed. The petroleum
formed in the shaly source beds is squeezed into suitable
reservoir rocks. D, still later, the sedimentary rocks have
been folded, and petroleum in the reservoir rocks migrates upward along the limbs of the anticlines and
accumulates beneath younger layers of impervious shale.
Much of the petroleum, however, escapes from the
reservoir rocks in places where traps do not exist. Some of
this petroleum, as at the left side of the diagram, may
reach the surface in seeps.
The drawings are schematic and not to any particular
scale. Note that the sandstone reservoirs (dotted) accumulated near the shore, and the layers of shale (dashed
pattern) were deposited in deeper water. The plus-mark
pattern is commonly used for granite. Calcium carbonate
and calcium-magnesium carbonate would have been
precipitated in still deeper water to form layers of limestone and dolomite, which are not shown in these
sketches.
Petroleum
Where Petroleum Occurs
composed of particles whose small size and tabular
shape allow them to be packed tightly together, somewhat like a deck of cards, and shale is thus relatively
impermeable.
Layers of sandstone make good reservoir rocks because they are commonly both porous and permeable.
These attributes existed in the sand as it was deposited.
Thus sandstone is said to have "primary porosity. "
Limestone and dolomite also make good reservoir rocks,
but their porosity and permeability typically result from
ground water seeping into them , dissolving away some of
the carbonate material , and leaving void spaces (Fig.
3 D). Porosity formed in this way is referred to as "secondary porosity," meaning that it developed sometime after
the rock formed.
Although sandstones and carbonates are the most
common reservoir rocks, any kind of rock that contains
open spaces so that the oil or gas can move through it may
form a reservoir. Ridgelike or moundlike reefs, composed
exclusively of the remains of marine organisms, especially corals, have well-developed porosity and perme-
For oil and natural gas to occur in quantities that are
commercially valuable, four geologic features are required. These are a source rock, a reservoir rock, a trap,
and a seal.
As the name implies, a source rock is the rock in
which gas and oil originated. One common kind of
source is organic-rich shale, which is produced from mud
containing abundant -remains of algae. Burial beneath
younger layers of sediment (Fig. 2) compacts the mud to
shale, and the heat that is associated with deep burial
breaks down the organic compounds to petroleum hydrocarbons. With the passage of time, the petroleum may
be squeezed out of the shale and accumulate in a
reservoir rock.
Good reservoir rocks have ample void spaces (porosity) and channelways that interconnect these spaces
(permeability) to allow the petroleum to seep from void to
void and saturate the rock (Fig. 3), and subsequently to
allow it to escape through a well. By contrast, shale is
T3
T2
~
..l-..I-
.......
_ _ __
.L--4--'--L...l-....1-~----:-:-_ . •
--+ +++
+ + + + + + + + + +
+ + + + + + + + + + +
c
+
+
3
+
+
+
Figure 2. Diagrammatic section showing stratigraphic traps near
the shoreline of a sea that transgressed onto older rocks, in this case
granite. At Time 1 (T1), the shoreline was at point A where sand was
being deposited at the beach; finer sediments that would become
shale were accumulating in deeper water. At T2 , the sea has
transgressed the land to point B; shale is being deposited above the
sandstone of T1 , and I imestone above the shale of T1 . At 13, the sea
has transgressed to point C, and some of the T2 sands are being
covered by 13 shales. Petroleum migrating updip would accumulate
in the sandstones ofT1 and T2, which are capped by shales ofT2 and
13. Any petroleum in the sandstone ofn, which lacks an impervious
seal, would be lost. Some petroleum may accumulate in open cracks
and fractures in the granite beneath the reservoirs of T1 and T2.
Figure 3. Porosity and permeability. Examples A, B,
and C are three kinds of sandstone as seen in thin section
at magnifications of 10 times their original size. A is an
excellent reservoir rock with good porosity and permeability because it has many large void spaces between
grains that are interconnected . B is a good reservoir rock.
C is a poor reservoir rock that has very few interconnected
void spaces. 0 is an illustration of secondary porosity
(shown in black) in a limestone whose original, or
primary porosity was limited . Ground water passing
along fractures has dissolved the carbonate walls, widening the fractures and connecting otherwise isolated cavities. Solution channels developed in this way range in
width from microfractures to tens of feet.
Petroleum
4
ability . They are typically enclosed in carbonate rocks
which also have these attributes (Fig. 4A). Igneous and
metamorphic rocks, such as basalt, granite, and gneiss,
lack porosity and permeability because of their interlocking crystal structure. They can form local reservoirs if they
contain cracks and fractures that are connected with
source beds, but these rocks are rarely closely associated
with good source beds for petroleum .
Once in a reservoir rock, oil and gas will continue to
move through it until the movement is halted by some
kind of trap. There are two general types of traps:
structural traps (Figs. 4B and C) and stratigraphic traps
(Figs. 4A and D-F). Because oil and gas tend to move
upward in the rock , both types of traps require an
impermeable bed or seal that prevents the petroleum
from escaping from the reservoir rock.
In conclusion, petroleum deposits are not large subterranean caverns that contain pools or lakes of oil. They
are beds of rock, commonly only a few feet thick but
possibly extending laterally for miles, whose cracks and
pores are saturated with oil or gas . It normally takes 10 to
30 years to drain the recoverable petroleum from a
producing field-a tiny fraction of the time it originally
took to form and accumulate the petroleum.
. 1. "
.t
1
C - - - -\ - - - - - - - - - - -\ .: . .... .. . .. .. ...
r- .
.,..': . .. : .. ... :--- - - - ,'
'.'
--
-
-
-
- y .: :. ' .. ',':- ....
- - - - - -- - -- - - . : .'. '.. ' ' . . ... . .
'
'1 -
o -
-
-
-<2 ....... .·0
-
~---
--
-
-
__
- -
-~~-
\ -
- -- --
-
-
-
.-.-.' -
-
--------
-
- -
-
Figure 4. Diagrammatic sections showing various
types of oil traps with oil shown in black.
A, section through a reef complex that began to grow
on a soft muddy seafloor and was later buried by
chemically precipitated limestone. The asymmetrical
shape and the location of fragments of reef imply that the
reef grew in a current that flowed from left to right. Note
that petroleum accumulates in the reef itself, as well as in
the flanking beds of reef material and limestone.
B, anticlinal traps where a sandstone (dotted) and
shale (ruled) sequence has been arched upward . The
petroleum migrated upward along the limbs of the
anticlines to the point where its movement was halted by
an impervious cap rock or seal. Traps of this type may be
detected by mapping geologic features on the land
surface.
C, fault traps at two levels in a sandstone-shale
sequence. In this diagram the rock layers on the right side
of the break have moved downward . The petroleum has
migrated from the left to the fault where it has been halted
by the seal of impervious rock across the fault. This trap
could be detected by mapping geologic features on the
land surface.
D, two stratigraphic traps formed in sandstone lenses
(dotted) completely surrounded by impermeable shale
(ruled). There is no indication on the land surface that
these traps exist, and therefore they can be detected only
by geophysical methods.
E, a stratigraphic trap on the updip edge of a gently
dipping sandstone tongue within an impervious shale
sequence. The presence of gently dipping strata can be
detected by mapping on the land surface, but the trap
itself can be detected only by geophysical methods.
F, two stratigraphic traps associated with an unconformity surface, here the result of erosion. ote that the
petroleum accumulated in the traps after the post-unconformity shale was deposited. These traps have no surface
expression and can be detected only by geophysical
methods.
Petroleum
How Petroleum Is Found
Virtually all of the world's petroleum comes from
sedimentary basins . A sedimentary basin is a large segment of the earth 's crust that has slowly subsided over
millions of years and become a persistent " low spot" in
which thick accumulations of sedimentary rocks have
been deposited . The Gulf of Mexico is a sedimentary
basin that began to form about 130 million years ago and
is continuing to subside, and to receive sediments, today.
Many of these basins have come into existence, received
great thicknesses of sedimentary fi II, and then ceased to
subside during the long history of the earth. Such "fossil"
basins include the Williston basin , the Michigan basin,
and many others in North America .
The exploration geologist must identify specific
places in the sedimentary basin where a source rock, a
reservoir rock, and a structural or stratigraphic trap exist.
However once a favorable place for these has been
defined , there are no techniques that can be used to
"see" if petroleum actually is present in commercial
quantities. Therefore every trap the exploration geologist
recognizes must be drilled to test for the presence of
petroleum (Fig. 5).
In 1859 the world 's first commercial oil well was
drilled to a depth of only 69 .5 feet near Titusville,
- - -A -------
- - -- - -
~
- -- -- -=--
Pennsylvania, where there were natural seeps, and in the
early days of exploration, holes of several hundred feet
were considered to be very deep.
Geologic mapping based on surface exposures of
layered sedimentary rocks commonly indicates the presence of geologic structures, such as anticlines and faults,
at shallow depths. Many major petroleum fields were
located in this way in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. The study of aerial photographs and satellite
imagery of some parts of the world also may indicate
patterns that are possibly related to shallow subsurface
traps .
Most modern exploration is for structural and stratigraphic traps that are buried beneath very thick deposits
of younger strata, because the near-surface resources
have largely been exploited . In fact, exploration wells
drilled 5 miles or more into the earth 's crust are not
unheard-of. Today's exploration geologists must therefore resort to indirect methods to infer the presence of
traps at such depths . These methods are referred to
generally as geophysical surveys. They include magnetic, gravity, and seismic techniques .
Magnetic surveys measure small variations in the
earth's magnetic field that are caused by small variations
in the magnetic properties of the different kinds of rocks
that make up the earth's crust. Geophysicists know how
8 ------y -- -
5
-
- -- - -- -
~
- -- - -- - y - - -
Figure 5. Diagrammatic sections showing how a surface of unconformity may not
only conceal an oi I 'pool ,' as at X, but also explain a barren trap as at Y in diagram A.
Originally there could have been two pools, one at X and the other at Y, but the pool at
Y was breached and exposed to erosion.
Contrast with diagram B, which shows the same geology as A except for an oil
deposit in the breached anticline at Y. The presence of oil at Y indicates that the
petroleum accumulated there after the post-unconformity rocks were deposited .
Because the traps are concealed , they must be located by geophysical methods . In
situation B, drilling at Y will produce petroleum, but in situation A, the hole will be
dry. The geologist, however, has no way of knowing which situation actually exists,
because there is no way to detect the petroleum itself or to determine when petroleum
migrated into a particular trap. Therefore both traps must be drilled.
6
Petroleum
particular kinds of rock affect the earth's magnetic field.
Therefore when a particular magnetic signature is encountered, the presence of a particular kind of rock can
be inferred even though it is not exposed at the surface.
Gravity surveys measure sma" differences in the
earth's gravity field that are caused by small differences in
the density of various types of rocks. Like the magnetic
signatures, particular gravity signatures may indicate the
presence of a particular class of rocks. The information
obtained from both techniques is organized as maps that
can be used by an experienced geologist to predict the
geometric arrangement of the various kinds of rocks in a
particular area. Much of our knowledge of Minnesota's
geology, which is largely concealed beneath a thick
blanket of unconsolidated glacial deposits (Fig. 6), is
inferred from gravity and magnetic data.
Magnetic and gravity techniques commonly give
ambiguous results in sedimentary basins because the
rocks in the basins lack well-defined magnetic and
density contrasts. The most informative method for subsurface exploration in sedimentary basins is seismic
surveying. Seismic surveys are conducted by creating
:~
yr-' .
,
'.'
"
;~,.
'-'~ .~
.~
"
r
Figure 6. Distribution of bedrock exposures in Minnesota, The bedrock geology of large areas of the state
cannot be mapped at a" without subsurface data from
drilling and geophysics because of the cover of glacial
deposits.
shock waves at or near the earth's surface and recording
the time it takes the waves to travel through rock layers
and back to the surface. Part of the energy of the shock
returns to the surface in the form of waves that are
reflected from rock surfaces at depth, and the time taken
for a shock wave to reach and bounce back from a buried
reflector is related to the depth of the reflector beneath the
surface, the inclination of the reflector, and the physical
properties of the rocks being penetrated.
A seismic shock wave may be generated either by the
detonation of explosives in shallow drill holes or by the
use of "thumpers" or "vibrators." The thumper method
uses a heavy (ca 3 tons) weight, which is lifted and
dropped to the ground by special truck-mounted equipment. The vibrator uses several large trucks with vibrator
pads that are lowered to the ground and vibrated at some
known rate. Like explosive charges, both these methods
generate shock waves that penetrate the earth at a
velocity that changes whenever a different kind of rock is
encountered. However, unlike explosive charges, the
thumper and vibrator methods are not destructive and
therefore are more useful in populated areas.
The reflected shock waves produced by any of these
methods are detected and measured at the earth's surface
by devices called seismometers, which have been placed
on the ground at specific distances from the source of the
shock wave. The seismometers are connected to banks of
electronic equipment which record the amount of time it
takes for a shock wave to travel from the source to a
particular seismometer. Seismic methods require the
mathematical manipulation of large quantities of data
before a geological interpretation can be made. Therefore computers are used to produce various kinds of
graphic displays which can be used by geologists to infer
the structural configuration of the rocks beneath the
surface.
A" of the geophysical techniques described above
involve expenditures of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As often as not, the surveys do not show encouraging
indications of petroleum traps. However if the results are
encouraging, a decision may be made to drill an exploratory we". Dri"ing wi" require the additional commitment of hundreds of thousands or even millions of
dollars.
It should be emphasized that the decision to drill is
based on the inferred presence of a geologic structure
where a large deposit of petroleum could have accumulated. It is not based on the presence of the petroleum
itself, because no scientific method can detect the actual
presence beneath the surface of either oil or natural gas.
Drilling is a high-risk venture. In 1980, 16 of every 17
holes drilled in suitable geologic settings were either dry
holes or holes that encountered deposits of noncommercial size. Given the expensive and chancy nature of
petroleum exploration, it should be obvious that no
reliable exploration company will decide to drill an
exploration hole without first evaluating the geology of
the particular target in any way that it can.
Upper Midwest
7
GEOLOGY OF
MINNESOTA AND THE UPPER MIDWEST
Geologically, Minnesota straddles the boundary between Precambrian rocks of the Canadian Shield and
younger sedimentary rocks that were deposited for the
most part in sedimentary basins on the Precambrian
basement, which is the southward extension of the
Canadian Shield (Fig. 7). Petroleum has been found in
commercial quantity in our neighbor states, but their
geology is considerably different from ours, because their
sedimentary rock formations are much thicker and
the Precambrian basement lies much deeper than in
Minnesota.
The Long Precambrian
About seven-eighths of geologic time is made up of
the Archean and Proterozoic Eons (Fig. 8), which will be
referred to here simply as Precambrian . Minnesota is
unique in that within its boundaries many of the Precambrian rocks were formed under conditions not dupl icated
elsewhere in the U.S. These rocks have been studied
extensively for more than 100 years, and probably more
has been written about them than about any other rocks
in any area of comparable size in the world.
Figure 7. The Canadian Shield (igneous rock pattern)
and sedimentary basins of the Upper Midwest. The
arches and Wisconsin dome were areas of higher elevation between the basins.
For this discussion the Precambrian succession is
divided into five terranes (Fig. 9). Of these, Terranes I and
II are fundamental crustal segments older than 2,500
million years (m.y.). Formed in part about 3,600 m.y.
ago, Terrane I was intruded and metamorphosed by
igneous rocks several times prior to 2,500 m.y. ago.
Metamorphism is the process whereby heat and pressure
change the form of a rock and at the same time eliminate
most or all of its porosity and permeability. Examples are
the changes of limestone to marble, shale to slate, and
granite to gneiss. Terrane I consists of a variety of gneisses
that were once deeply buried and heated to temperatures
of more than 1, 100°F. Terrane II consists of layered and
plutonic rocks formed about 2,650 m. y. ago. The layered
components include several kinds of volcanic and sedimentary rocks that were extensively folded , faulted , and
metamorphosed when the plutonic rocks were emplaced. This greenstone-granite terrane is separated from
the older gneiss terrane by the Great Lakes tectonic zone,
a major geologic structure about 30 miles wide that
trends northeastward across the central part of Minnesota. The zone, which was the locus of several small
earthquakes in historic time, consists mainly of faulted
and folded rocks of Terrane II.
In east-central Minnesota the tectonic zone was the
locus of a large sedimentary basin that filled with layered
volcanic and sedimentary rocks around 2,000 m. y. ago.
These layered rocks, assigned here to Terrane III , were
folded and metamorphosed about 1,870 m. y. ago when
several large granite batholiths were emplaced.
Terrane IV, which consists chiefly of red quartzite and
shale, was deposited between 1,725 and 1,600 m.y. ago
in several small basins on the gneissic rocks ofTerrane I in
southwestern Minnesota.
Terrane V consists of mafic plutonic and volcanic
rocks and derivative red-colored , nonmarine sedimentary rocks that accumulated in a major rift that broke the
older terranes in northeastern, east-central , and southeastern Minnesota about 1,200 m.y. to 950 m.y. ago.
Petroleum chances. Because of their complex igneous and metamorphic history, it is highly improbable that
the rocks ofTerranes I, II , or III were ever the source for, or
now contain any petroleum . Although little metamorphosed and deformed, the rocks ofTerranes IV and V are
nonmarine in origin and formed for the most part in an
oxygen-rich environment, and therefore were not important source beds for petroleum.
Any of the Precambrian rocks could contain small
amounts of oil or natural gas in cracks or fractured zones,
8
Upper Midwest
Relative
Duration
of Major
Geologic
Intervals
Cenozoic
u
0
N
~
Mesozoic
Q)
c:
0
.e:
a..
Paleozoic
System
Era
-
~
Series
Recent
. Quaternary . Pleistocene
Cenozoic
Duration
in
Millions
Millions of Years
of Years (Ap prox.)
(Approx.)
Approx . last ~o.ooo yrs
2
r--2
=
c-
0
l-
50
t-
100
Tertiary
6~
IfL . .:{:::
..
63-
:
Cretaceous
\
75
BSI- ~50
Mesozoic
: Jurassic :.
Proterozoic
\
67
Triassic
~35
t-
200
t-
250
t-
300
t-
350
t-
400
I-
450
500 - t-
500
205 ~240-
Permian
."
o
~
~0
50
290-
Pennsylvanian
I
~ Mississippian
u
~40
~30
~330-
360-
Devonian :
Paleozoic
Silurian
:::
Ordovician
50
4W -
25
435 -
..
'::::.
65
Archean
(/)
~
Com brian
CJ
70
I~570-
550 >(1)
Rocks older than 570m.y.
Proterozoic are also called Precambrian
'+-
0
(/)
1,930
Archean
:-:
~!.
::::;::.
c::
0
....:::::.
2,WO
4,600 ~
Figure 8. Geologic time scale showing major subdivisions of geologic time.
Shading indicates rock systems found in Minnesota.
Upper Midwest
9
Terrane~
I~
--L
I
Terrane 3ZI
1+ ++++·1
Terrane Y
I··· · .·1
Terrane N
Terrane III
,7 v I
Terrane II
I: : : :I
I~
I
96·
94°
Figure 9. Inferred distribution of bedrock terranes in Minnesota (see text for
discussion). Terrane I, gnei ss terrane; Terrane II , greenstone-granite; Terrane III,
intracratonic stratified rocks ; Terrane IV, platform-type supracrustal rocks; Terrane V,
rocks of the Midcontinent rift system ; Terrane ' VI, Paleozoic rocks; Terrane VII,
Mesozoic rocks .
Great Lakes
Tectonic Zone
10
Upper Midwest
if the void spaces adjoined source beds in younger
sedimentary strata . However, such occurrences are rare,
and the upper surface of the Precambrian basement
generally defines the lower limit of exploratory drilling.
The areas where these terranes are shown on the geologic
map (Fig. 9) are areas where they are exposed at the
surface or occur directly under a shallow cover of glacial
debris-areas where there are virtually no prospects for
commercial petroleum discoveries. In the Midcontinent
once Precambrian rock's are encountered, there are no
petroleum-bearing sedimentary rocks underneath . Further dri lIing, with the idea of getting " beneath" the
granite or gneiss, is futile .
Paleozoic Rocks
The Upper Midwest is part of the so-called Central
Stable Region which extends from the Appalachian
Mountains to the Rocky Mountains. Only small structural
modifications have occurred in this geologic province
during the last 570 million years, but gentle flexing and
warping of the basement Precambrian rocks during this
time created several large sedimentary basins separated
by equally large arches and domes (Fig. 7).
Sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic and younger ages
were deposited for the most part in seas that repeatedly
transgressed the sedimentary basins of the Upper Midwest. The deposits can be generalized according to age,
primarily on the basis of fossils in them, into sequences
called systems . Many of the boundaries between the
systems are surfaces of erosion or nondeposition called
unconformities, but other boundaries are gradational
over tens or hundreds of feet of rock. Individual systems
commonly extend over large parts of the region, but not
all of the recognized systems extend to all parts of the
region, nor were rocks of one system in one place
necessarily connected with those of the same system
elsewhere.
The causes of the vertical movements of large faultbounded blocks in the Precambrian basement are unknown, but they produced arches and basins in various
ways. Greater subsidence of basins and less subsidence
of arches and domes led to the deposition of thicker
sedimentary sequences in the basins relative to those on
the arches. Where actual uplift of the arches occurred
during relatively brief periods of time, sedimentary units
were eroded from the flanks of the arches and redeposited
within the basins. The central parts of some basins now
contain more than 20,000 feet of strata, but the sedimentary cover on the uplifted areas is typically about 1,000
feet thick and in places is entirely missing. Figure 10, if
the several hundred feet of glacial deposits are subtracted, shows the present thickness of these sedimentary
rocks in the Upper Midwest.
In southeastern Minnesota the Paleozoic sedimentary
rocks (Terrane VI on Fig. 9) accumulated in the Hollandale embayment, a broad southward-plunging extension
of the Forest City basin in Iowa. In northwestern Minne-
sota this terrane, represented only by rocks of the Ordovician System, defines the eastern edge of the Williston
basin in orth Dakota.
Rocks of the Cambrian System were deposited in
southeastern Minnesota after a prolonged period of crustal stability, erosion, weathering, and leaching·had led to
the development of thick soils on the Precambrian bedrock surface. The Cambrian rocks are mostly thick,
porous and permeable sequences of sandstone interlayered with thin beds of shale and chemically precipitated
limestone and dolomite. Compare the distribution of
Cambrian rocks in Minnesota and elsewhere in the Upper
Midwest on Figure 11 A.
The succeeding Ordovician System (Fig. 11 B) is very
similar to the underlying Cambrian System, but it contains more limestone and dolomite and less sandstone
and shale. No Cambrian rocks were deposited in northwestern Minnesota, but the Ordovician rocks there are
similar to those in southeastern Minnesota and the two
areas may once have been interconnected. The later
emergence of the Transcontinental arch, which trends
diagonally across the state from southwest to northeast,
would have led to the erosion of any connecting strata .
Although the Silurian sea (Fig. 11C) may once have
covered Minnesota, any Silurian rocks that may have
formed in Minnesota were removed by erosion before the
deposition of limestone and dolomite in the Hollandale
embayment in Middle Devonian time.
Once the Devonian sea withdrew from the Hollandale embayment, Minnesota must have stood above sea
level for the next 225 million years, although Paleozoic
sedimentation continued elsewhere in the Upper Midwest. Coal deposits in the Illinois and Forest City basins
record the existence of extensive forests and swamps of
tree ferns, giant mosses, scouring rushes, and primitive
conifers. Deposits of gypsum and nonmarine sedimentary rocks were forming in contemporary basins farther
west, and the youngest Paleozoic rocks in the Dakotas
are shallow marine limestones of the Permian System.
f
Figure 10. Depth from the land surface to Precambrian basement rocks (in feet). Igneous rock pattern
shows where Precambrian rocks are at the bedrock
surface.
Upper Midwest
A. Cambrian
B. Ordov ician
C. S i lurian
D. Devon ian
11
Figure 11. Paleogeographic evolution of the Upper Midwest and
its relation to petroleum-bearing rock formations (modified from the
Shell Oil Company's (1975 ) Stratigraphic Atlas of North and Central
America). Sand pattern denotes land areas. Heavy solid lines show
the approximate present edge of rock strata; note that some rocks
were deposited on land and are nonmarine in origin . Thinner lines
indicate transitions between shale (Sh), sandstone (Ss), and limestone (Ls) or dolomite (Dolo) . Areas of oil or gas production or of
substantive petroleum shows in rocks of the respective systems are
shown in black.
A. In Late Cambrian time (500 m. y. ago) a shallow sea
advanced over the continent from what is now southeast
and south. The large, low-Iyi ng landmass of the Canadian
Shield supplied sand , silt, and clay to the sea where they
were deposited near the shoreline. At the same time,
carbonates (limestone and dolomite) were being deposited in somewhat deeper water some distance from the
shoreline.
B. By Middle to Late Ordovician time (450 m.y. ago)
the landmass had been eroded to an even lower level ,
and the transgressing sea may have covered all but the
northeastern part of Minnesota. Ordovician rocks in
some parts of the Upper Midwest have produced petroleum (black).
C. Late Silurian time (420 m. y. ago). By near the end
of Silurian time, all of the Upper Midwest probably was
covered by a vast shallow sea. The absence of sandstone,
siltstone, and shale in Silurian rocks implies that rivers
carrying mud and silt emptied into the sea far away in
what is now Canada .
D . Middle Devonian time (380 m.y. ago). During the
early part of Devonian time the sea had retreated from
much of the Upper Midwest, exposing many of the older
rocks to erosion. Regional geologic evidence implies that
there were two Middle Devonian seas that advanced
toward each other. The two seas probably were separated
by the Transcontinental arch, but the arch may have been
breached during Late Devonian time.
12
Upper Midwest
E. MISS.
G. Permian
Figure 11. Continued
E. Mississippian time (330 m.y. ago). The paleogeography was similar to that of the Devonian, but the
southwestern part of the Transcontinental arch was
breached so as to form a continuous sea.
F. Late Pennsylvanian time (290 m.y. ago). Although
much of the area was then above sea level, nonmarine
sedimentary rocks were being deposited in parts of the
Michigan basin, northwestern Iowa, Nebraska, and
western North Dakota.
F. Penn.
H. Triassic
G. Middle to Late Permian time (250 m. y. ago). Some
Permian rocks are preserved in the west, but most of the
Upper Midwest was the site of erosion and weathering
that continued well into Mesozoic time.
H . Late Triassic time (210 m.y. ago). The sea has
retreated well to the west of the area. Nonmarine rocks in
the Dakotas were for the most part deposited by streams
flowing off the Canadian Shield to the west toward the
sea.
Upper Midwest
Petroleum chances. Most producing fields within the
basins (Fig. 11 B-F) exploit anticlinal and fault traps, but
some production also has come from stratigraphic traps,
particularly in Pennsylvanian strata and where tilted
Paleozoic rocks underlie the Cretaceous System. Reef
structures and associated deposits in the Silurian and
Devonian Systems are major petroleum producers in the
Michigan basin.
The trouble with Minnesota's Paleozoic rocks-as a
source of petroleum-is their lack of source beds. Many
of the sandstone and limestone or dolomite units have a
well-developed primary or secondary porosity and are
interlayered with impervious shale units. Evidence of
structural or stratigraphic traps in northwestern Minnesota is lacking, but excellent structural traps exist in
Dakota, Faribault, Waseca, and Washington Counties in
southeastern Minnesota. One of these is being used by
Minnegasco as a readymade place to store natural gas.
As is common around the edges of sedimentary
basins, Minnesota's Paleozoic rocks are filled with fresh
water. They Iie near the present land surface, and the
pristine condition of the microfossil conodonts which
they contain indicates that they were never heated by
deep burial. (Their counterparts in deeper parts of the
basins elsewhere in the Upper Midwest, have produced
petroleum because sedimentation continued longer, and
they were buried and heated.) Furthermore, the units in
Minnesota that contain some carbonaceous material and
small amounts of hydrocarbons, like the "Vadnais
Heights crude" (see the section on occurrences, 1982),
are merely shale partings no more than inches thick
scattered within some of the rock formations.
Mesozoic Rocks
Lower Mesozoic rocks of Triassic and Jurassic age are
confined to the western part of the Upper Midwest and to
a small area in southern Michigan, but Upper Mesozoic
rocks belongi ng to the Cretaceous System were deposited
in a shallow sea that encroached from the Gulf of Mexico
to the Arctic Ocean and spread eastward into Minnesota
(Fig. 11J).
Much of Minnesota was dissected by west-flowing
streams in Cretaceous time, and the resulting channels
were filled with a heterogeneous assemblage of organicrich clay, thin beds of low-grade coal called lignite,
quartz-kaolin shale derived locally from the weathered
tropical soil, and sandstone. As the Cretaceous sea
transgressed from west to east, these nonmarine rocks
were successively overlain by marine sandstone, siltstone, and shale. Although rocks of the Cretaceous
System once covered much of Minnesota, most of them
were eroded prior to the onset of glacial activity in
Pleistocene time. They now occur along the Red River of
13
the North and in southwestern Minnesota as an erosionally dissected blanket and in other parts of the state as
small outliers. They are shown as Terrane VII on Figure 9.
Petroleum chances. Small quantities of natural gas
have been encountered in sandstone beds toward the
bottom of the Cretaceous sequence in Minnesota, where
these beds are juxtaposed with thin lignite-rich units. It
seems I ikely that the natural gas formed at shallow depths
by bacterial processes akin to those which produce
methane gas in modern swamps. The lignite was never
buried deeply enough to attain the temperature necessary
to form a better grade of coal. What the Cretaceous rocks
in Minnesota do contain in quantity is water. In all
probability they do not contain gas, let alone oil, in
exploitable quantity.
Cenozoic Rocks
Continental lake and swamp deposits (lignite) of the
lower part of the Tertiary System occur in the western part
of the Upper Midwest. They are overlain by a thin blanket
of upper Tertiary sand and gravel, which were eroded
from the Rocky Mountains to the west, and now form the
surface of the Great Plains.
In Minnesota the stream erosion that removed much
of the Cretaceous System also removed pre-Cretaceous
rocks down to and including some of the Precambrian
basement. Major preglacial highlands and lowlands
formed, which influenced the flow of the ice lobes that
advanced over the state in Pleistocene time.
About 90 percent of the bedrock in Minnesota is now
covered by unconsolidated glacial and postglacial debris
(Fig. 6). Most of the glacial deposits at the present land
surface were laid down by several discrete ice lobes
during late Wisconsinan time between 20,000 and 9,500
years ago (Fig. 11 L). Older sheets of glacial till, which are
buried beneath these deposits, record many more advances and retreats of glacial ice over the Upper Midwest
including Minnesota.
Petroleum chances. The till sheets themselves are an
unpromising source, even for natural gas. However,
ancient peat bogs and forest beds, which formed during
warmer interglacial intervals, are incorporated in the till
in places. Methane that formed in this organic material by
bacterial processes was prevented by the surrounding till
from escape. These pockets of organic matter have been
chiefly responsible for the natural gas encountered during
the drilling of water wells.
Despite the high pressure of the gas encountered in
some of the pockets in the glacial drift, the gas is soon
enti rely depleted. The gas is not the resu It of the formation
of petroleum-by deep burial and heat-in the much
older bedrock at depth, and consequently further drilling
does not increase the flow.
14
Upper Midwest
I. Jurassic
K. Tertiary
Figure 11. Continued
I. Middle Jurassic time (150 m. y.). A shallow sea
again has advanced on the continental crust into the
western Dakotas and ebraska. As in Triassic time, rivers
apparently flowed from the Canadian Shield into the
Jurassic sea.
J. Late Cretaceous time (90 m.y. ago). The sea has
advanced over much of Minnesota. Nonmarine rocks
were being deposited for the most part by westwardflowing rivers.
J. Cretaceous
L. Pleistocene
K. T~rtiarytime(63 m.y. t02 m.y. ago). Early Tertiary
nonmanne sandstone, shale, and lignite are abundant in
the Dakotas. Late Tertiary nonmarine conglomerate (Cg)
and sandstone are abundant in ebraska, and also occur
as scattered remnants in the Dakotas.
L. Boundaries of the late Wisconsinan (solid line) and
older Pleistocene ice sheets (dashed line). The bedrock
north of these lines is largely covered by a mantle of
glacial debris.
r
Occurrences
15
HYDROCARBON OCCURRENCES
IN MINNESOTA
Many small pockets of natural gas have been discovered in Minnesota, and some traces of oily substances, as
well (see frontispiece). A list of occurrences, arranged in
more or less chronological order of discovery, has been
compiled from published or file reports of the Minnesota
Geological and Natural History Survey and its successor,
the Minnesota Geological Survey (MGS), and from contemporary newspaper accounts in MGS files and in the
library of the University of Minnesota. Except as otherwise noted, all of the information on early events in this
section and in the section on wildcatting was taken from
Natural Gas in Minnesota by N.H. Winchell, which was
published in 1889 as Bulletin 5 of the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey. Although far from
complete, the compilation represents the kinds of hydrocarbon deposits that have been found and that may be
found in the future.
Before 1875-Freeborn County, near Freeborn (T.
104 N., R. 23 W.). Water in several wells, including the
well at the hotel in Freeborn, was "spoiled" by carburetted hydrogen (methane), and pieces of Cretaceous
lignite taken out while digging wells had incited ardent
expectations of coal, according to N. H. Winchell in the
Annual Report for 1874. Methane was encountered in a
drill hole bored prior to sinking a shaft for a coal-mining
venture. When ignited, the gas flamed up 8 or 10 feet
above the wellhead with a roaring sound. When the shaft
itself was dug, it drained off the gas gradually from the test
hole allowing dilution with air and thus prevented rapid
burning. This may have been the event described by F.D.
Drake in a letter to the Freeborn County Standard dated
February 2, 1885:
The question was asked in the STANDARD
last week if anyone would give a history of the
gas found at Freeborn some years ago. The writer
was prospecting for coal and unexpectedly
struck a vein of gas about fifty feet from the
surface of the ground. It came out with a rushing
and roaring sound from the drill hole. It caused
quite an excitement and the people gathered
round to hear the noise, speculating what it
could be, as it was not visible. Some time after,
perhaps an hour or two, Mr. ED. Rodgers upon
whose land it was, wishing to smoke, lit a match
and in the act of lighting his pipe it came in
contact with the escaping gas. It took fire a little
sooner than was expected. Mr. Cram, now at
Alden, had his whiskers trimmed without the aid
of a barber. All moved out of the way, as we had
a column of fire twelve feet high in an instant,
and a hot one at that. The derrick had to come
down out of the way of so destructive an agent. It
was a grand sight to see a column of fire, as it was
not connected with anything, not even the
ground apparently, as the gas came with such
force that it did not burn within two feet of the
ground. The column swayed back and forth as
the wind blew upon it. It was a grand sight, and
very conclusive evidence of coal that we were
looking for; but the coal has never been found as
yet. This was the largest vein of gas yet struck.
Before 1884-Martin County, Manyaska Township
(T. 102 N., R. 32 W.), railroad well SW1/4 sec. 7, near
Sherburne. As reported in volume 1 of the Final Report, p.
488, the well was dug 7 feet square to a depth of 76 feet
and bored below that. At 113 feet gas rose with a loud
roaring sound and filled the well. The source apparently
was a gravel layer underlain and overlain by "blue clay."
The gas was either carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide
inasmuch as it would extinguish a flame. The gas also
caused the death of one worker, after "some implement
having been accidentally dropped into the well, the
foreman commanded one of his men to go down for it,
and being angry at his refusal, himself rashly descended
and was immediately killed ... "
Before 1884-Big Stone County, Prior Township near
Prior (T. 123 N., R. 47 W.). On the farm of J.R. Edwards,
NWl/4 sec. 24, a water well in glacial drift at 78 feet
produced methane from a gravel layer overlain by "red
till." On the farm of Samuel Varco, sec. 18, a water well
in glacial drift at 102 feet produced dark-colored water
and methane from a sand layer overlain by "blue till."
Before 1884-Rock County, Martin Township (T.
101 N., R. 47 W.), farm ofThomas Kennedy, NW1/4 sec.
35. A water well in glacial drift at 42 feet produced
"dangerous gas" from a layer of dark-colored sand
beneath an organic-rich layer containing tree logs and
rubbish of bark and leaves.
16
Occurrences
Before 1884-Big Stone County. In the making of a
well near Big Stone Lake the workmen of the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad met with "curious
manifestations." There were slight explosions, accompanied by strong odors of gas. Finally a more severe and
nearly disastrous explosion, which threw the workmen
back and against the side of the excavation, alarmed
them so that the work ceased. C.H. Pryor of the railroad
submitted a sample from the bottom of the well to N.H.
Winchell of the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey who concluded that the gas (methane) originated in beds of lignite and dark shale of Cretaceous age.
Before 1884-Traverse County. In Arthur (probably
T. 125 N., R. 48 W.), on the farm of James H. Flood, a
large flow of gas was encountered at 180 feet, said to be
below the ti II sheet of the drift. It rushed out with such
force as "to throw out a heavy iron bolt inserted in the
pipe." The flow continued but a short time.
Before 1884-Waseca County, Woodville Township
(T. 107 N., R. 22 W.), farm of Francis Bossard near
Waseca. Two water wells in glacial drift at depths of
approximately 65 feet produced gas that burned at the
wellheads with a blue flame extending 8 or 10 feet in the
air. When burning there was a noise which could be
heard, as alleged, a mile and a half, and the earth
trembled "as if by heavy thunder." Water from the wells,
when left to stand, showed an oily scum on its surface.
Before 1884-Goodhue County. The following story
was related by Winchell in Bulletin 5 (1889).
Mr. August Peterson reported signs of gas at
the mouth of the Cannon river in Goodhue
County. This was in the sinking of a drill for the
purpose of artesian water. "At the depth of 85
feet there was an upheaval of sand and gravel,
marked and forcible; filling the pipe to the height
of twenty feet with sand, packing it so tightly that
we had to drill it out. After cleaning it out there
was another upheaval, sending the gravel and
sand thirty feet, and so it kept on. We worked a
month on twenty-five feet. Whenever we got
within 8 or 10 feet of the bottom of the pipe, up
the gravel would come. At 115 feet we got the
pipe clean, I think. The last cleaning out, however, showed a considerable yellow sand which
looked as though coated with mustard; the very
last, however, being a brown or blackish and oily
substance which on being poured out separated
from the water, a smoke or steam rising from it.
Then we sent the drill down again, fully believing we were to the rock. The drill, weighing
1,500 pounds, was sent up about 15 feet in the
pipe, and the sand the whole length of the drill,
which is 28 feet, and shut the drill in solid,
requiring several hours of work to loosen it. The
parties working becoming both discouraged and
angry, the thermometer ranging in the thirties
(minus-N.H.W.), in extremity they procured a
pile-driver and bent the pipe, so we left the
place. "
Making another trial at 100 feet from this
place, toward the main river bluff, Mr. Peterson
obtained a fine flowing well of pure water without any trouble, at the depth of 350 feet.
Before 1887-Blue Earth County, Vernon Center (T.
106 N., R. 28 W.), C.B. Frazer property, sec. 26. A water
well at 115 feet produced a voluminous discharge of
carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) gas from a sandy layer overlain by
clay or shale of Cretaceous character.
Before June 1888-Freeborn County. Some residents
of Albert Lea formed a syndicate for commercial development of the natural gas and drilled several new holes. As
exuberantly reported in the Freeborn County Standard
(date unknown):
The scene of operations was the farm of L. T.
Scott. The prospecting well was being bored
within a foot or so of his main well, used for his
extensive water supply, and when the party
arrived there, it had reached a depth of about 60
feet. The boring continued to a depth of 75 feet
when signs of disappointment were visible and
expressed by Mr. Scott and other anxious spectators, for that was the depth at which Mr. Scott's
well had met with the great vein of gas that burst
forth when lit and illumined his premises for a
distance around of 20 rods [330 feet]. The well
borers were directed to proceed with the work,
to go still deeper, until when a depth of 95 feet
had been reached, the drill was taken out and an
examination made. The representative of the
STANDARD tore a leaf from his note book, lit it
and applied it to the sunken pipe. No blaze
followed. But wait: He heard a bubbling, gurgling, boiling sound in the pipe. All standing by
soon heard it; it increased in violence and
intensity. The lighted paper was again applied by
the STANDARD man, and again for the third
time, without results. A few moments of anxious
suspense and the STANDARD man perseveres
with another trial, when behold! hurrah! the
flames burst forth and fiercely leap into the air.
The entire party soon gather around, and cheers
and congratulations convert the scene into a
jubilee. The flames steadily burst forth, and the
test is complete, the well is a success. The ladies
then announced supper, spread on Mr. Scott's
handsome lawn, when Mr. Sergeant brings the
big coffee pot to the well, filled to supply the
wants of the entire party; he holds it over the
flames of gas, it warms, it heats, it boils, and is
poured forth in brimming cups to the hungry
prospectors.
After supper, all bear a hand and string inch
pipes from the three inch pipe in the gas well a
distance of 250 feet; connections are quickly
made at the joints; a length is bent; a hole is
made in the wire netting of the parlor window of
Mr. Scott's commodious residence; the pipe is
thrust through; the STANDARD man again ap-
Occurrences
plies the lighted paper; the golden flames burst
forth as large as a palm leaf fan and THE FIRST
HOUSE WEST OF THE FATHER OF WATERS IS
LIGHTED WITH NATURAL GAS. And it was a
splendid light. It burned intensely and was intensely hot. Arrangements were made with Mr.
Scott to superintend the boring of another large
and deeper well immediately, when the horses
were hastily hitched to carriages, for the rumbling thunders threatened rain, a hasty "good
night" was said to our hospitable hosts, and the
party were soon speeding to the city, which was
safely reached after a short and inspiring ride.
Thus was demonstrated the genuineness of
the great and wonderful NATURAL GAS RESOURCES OF FREEBORN COUNTY.
We use these terms advisedly, for it has been
demonstrated that the gas is of the best quality,
that it is inexhaustible, and that the deeper into
the bowels of the earth the investigation is made
the greater is THE VOLUME AND PRESSURE.
June 1 888-Freeborn County, Freeborn Township (T.
104 N., R. 23 W.), farm of Mr. Scott, NW 1/4 sec. 13 and
Carlston Township (T. 103 N., R. 23 W.), farm of Mr.
Jackson, western part of sec. 9. Winchell reported in
Bulletin 5 that
there was a party of fifteen or more and they all
witnessed the exhibition of gas-burning from the
tops of two inch pipes sunk into the earth about
seventy-five feet. That there could be no deception as to the genuineness of this, and the origin
of the gas as claimed, the sand pump was sunk
into each one and gravel and clay were brought
from the bottom. The pumping was also intended to relieve the gas from obstructions
caused by water and gravel which get into the
pipe and choke the flow of gas. Four such wells
are in existence in the immediate vicinity of
Freeborn, and afford gas intermittently, the stoppage being caused probably, as represented, by
obstructions that now interfere with the current
of gas, and choke up the bottom of the pipe. I am
credibly informed also that indications of gas
have been met with in numerous other instances
in the sinking of wells in the neighborhood of
Freeborn, and I know, of my own observation,
that now nearly fifteen years ago, when I first
surveyed Freeborn county, such exhibition of gas
was witnessed in the sinking of a shaft for
explorations for "coal," and that it permeated
the water of some wells and rendered the water
unfit for general use.
The current of gas coming from one of these
wells burned with considerable roaring, when
allowed to escape in full force, issuing from a
series of gas-jets arranged about a central disk,
and, when regulated by the stop-cock, it becomes luminous, and burned with the regularity
of any gas-supply.
17
[For a further discussion of the Freeborn County sites see
the section on wildcat exploration.]
Before 188S-Carver County, Waconia Township (T.
116 N., R. 25 W.), farm of N.L. Swenson, sec. 8. A water
well in white sand at 38 feet produced gas with a roaring
sound and a disagreeable smell for about 20 minutes. The
sand is overlain by 33 feet of "yellow and blue till" with
lignite fragments.
Before l88S-Nicoliet County, Belgrade Township
(T. 109 N., R. 27 W.), farm of L.P. Parsons. A water well
in glacial drift at 121 feet produced carbon dioxide from
31 feet of sand and gravel overlain by "yellow and blue
til!." Two men were killed by the gas.
Before 188S-Sibley County, Henderson Township
(T. 112 N., R. 26 W.), property of John Mahr in town of
Henderson. A water well in glacial drift at 28 feet
produced gas of an uncertain composition from a layer of
hard iron-rich gravel.
Before 188S-Meeker County, Greenleaf Township
(T. 118 N., R. 31 W.), farm of Ross and Becker in sec. 23.
A water well in glacial drift at 48 feet produced a large
amount of gas with a roaring sound from a dark sand layer
with a disagreeable odor. The gas probably was carbon
dioxide or carbon monoxide inasmuch as it immediately
killed a worker at the site. It flowed abundantly for
approximately 6 weeks. In the same area, 75 feet away, a
second well at 57 feet intersected a small quantity of gas
from 1.5 feet of sand and gravel having a strong kerosene
odor.
Before l88S-Stearns County, Zion Township (T.
123 N., R. 32 W.). On the farm of Michael Traun, SE1/4
sec. 13, a water well in glacial drift at 51 feet produced
gas from a gravel layer 13 feet thick. The gas, which was
not flammable, suffocated a man. On the farm of Ferdinand Grutzmacher, SW1/4 sec. 13, a water well in glacial
drift at 59 feet produced a small quantity of gas of
unknown composition from a gravel layer 15 feet thick.
l889-Freeborn County, Albert Lea Township (T.
102 N., R. 21 W.) near business district in the city of
Albert Lea. A water well at the depth of 38-40 feet
produced gas that would not burn (carbon dioxide or
carbon monoxide) from a layer of "sandy muck ... with
leaves and sticks."
June 6, 1889-Freeborn County, Riceland Township
(T. 103 N., R. 20 W.) 6 miles northeast of Albert Lea. A
water well in glacial drift at 63 feet produced methane
which burned "with considerable violence, and in a
quantity sufficient to operate a ten-horse power engine."
About 1900-Faribauit County, Foster Township (T.
102 N., R. 24 W.), farms of William Klunder and Herman
Lawrenz, most likely in sec. 33. Water wells in glacial
drift at approximately 130 feet produced methane that
allegedly was used to heat the residences of the owners
for 6 months. Flow all but ceased in 1900, although small
amounts issued as recently as 1917.
December 5, 19l6-Le Sueur County, Lexington
Township (T. 111 N., R. 24 W.), farm of M.L. Kehoe
about 1 mile north and half a mile west of Le Center. A
water well produced gas from a sand layer at 255 feet.
The gas erupted violently, together with mud and water
18
Occurrences
that spattered the derrick to a height of 40 feet. Pressure
on the wellhead after capping was 6-8Ibs. Apparently at
first the gas was nonflammable (carbon dioxide or carbon
monoxide). Later when Mr. Kehoe was standing about 10
feet away from the wellhead, he struck a match to light his
pipe, and the gas exploded, burning the hair and faces of
bystanders.
Asample ofthe flammable gas was collected by W.H.
Emmons, director of the Minnesota Geological Survey,
and found to contain 2.84% carbon dioxide, 0.50%
carbon monoxide, 3.85% oxygen, 65.90% methane,
and 26.91 % nitrogen. The presence of so much nit'rogen
suggests that common air had been mixed with the
methane in the drill hole. Although the gas was most
likely produced from glacial drift, Emmons noted that it
could have leaked from underlying Paleozoic strata
located near the crest of a shallow anticline that was first
defined in 1911 in U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply
Paper 256. It is interesting to note that this structure now
"produces" natural gas putthere by the Minneapolis Gas
Company for storage.
April 1917-Faribault County, Kiester Hills Township (T. 101 N., R. 24 W.), farm of J.W. Yost about 1.5
miles north of Kiester in an area known as the Kiester
Hills. A water well in glacial drift at 90 feet produced
methane from 7 feet of soft mud and sand lying between
84 feet of "blue clayl! above and 64 feet of "blue clay"
below. As the gas flowed, water and mud spouted several
feet above wellhead. Subsequently the drilling rig was
moved a few feet to the west and a second hole was
drilled in glacial drift to 90 feet where a strong flow of
flammable gas was encountered. A sample of this gas,
also collected by W.H. Emmons, contained 0.20%
carbon dioxide, 0.90% carbon monoxide, 1.40% heavy
hydrocarbons, 0.06% oxygen, 83.9% methane, and
13.0% nitrogen. [For more on Kiester Hills see the
section on exploration, 1938 and 1950.)
December 19l9-Kittson County, Kvark farm 3 miles
from Hallock. A water well in glacial drift at 25 feet
produced methane that gushed up with force and was
ignited by a heater being used by the well driller,
according to the Minneapolis Journal, December 17.
Summer of 1920-Meeker County, Collinwood
Township (T. 118 N., R. 29 W.), farm of Barney Arnett
SlI2NW1/4 sec. 8, near Dassel. A water well 90-100 feet
deep reportedly pumped a mixture of water and oil. Mr.
Arnett completed another well nearby which also reportedly produced oil. In a letter dated August 5, 1929, G.A.
Thiel of MGS advised an oil company that the oil at
Dassel came from thin Cretaceous sediments overlying
granite-too thin to be of commercial value. MGS acquired a sample of this oil sometime between 1920 and
1928, but given the amount of time that the sample was
stored, the significance of recent analytical results is
equivocal. [For a further discussion of this site see the
section on wildcat exploration.)
July 1923-Faribault County, Lura Township (T. 104
N., R. 26 W.), farm of John Remp near Easton. A water
well at a depth of 142 feet produced gas of unknown
composition. Pressure forced water and gas high into the
air for part of a day and all of one night. (Mpls. Journal,
July 15.)
February 1925-Cottonwood County, Lakeside
Township (T. 105 N., R. 35 W.), Thomson farm about 5
miles east of Windom. A "deep weill! encountered
natural gas of unknown composition in such quantities as
to lift the drilling machinery. The gas continued to flow
for 3 days. (Mpls. Journal, February 20.)
1926-Kandiyohi County. The Minneapolis Journal
of February 26 reported natural gas struck by well dri Ilers
at Raymond. Reports of "gasoline" at Lake Lillian (T. 117
N., Rs. 33 or 34 W.) are not credible, but some oily
substance may have been found. [See the section on
wildcat exploration.)
March 1923--Renville County, Camp Township (T.
112 N., R. 33 W.) at bridge over Minnesota River, 6 miles
from Fairfax. Drilling for engineering tests on the bridge
abutments encountered methane at a shallow but unknown depth. The gas ignited, and the flame rose 30 feet.
Apparently no additional tests were made. (Mpls. Journal,
March 3.)
Junel0, 1937-TraverseCounty, WalisTownship(T.
126 N., R. 47 W.), SEV4 sec. 2, near Wheaton. Wildcat
oil exploration hole produced 3 barrels a day of crude oil
with an A.P.I. value of 37°, according to the August 19
issue of Oil and Gas Journal. [For a further discussion of
this site see the section on wildcat exploration.)
Before September 1950-Faribault County, KiesterBricelyn area. An analysis of a gas sample by the Twin
City Testing Laboratory was shown to geologist Malcolm
P. Weiss. After cleaning of dilutants, the sample consisted of 80.9% methane and 19.1 % ethane. The laboratory concluded that the sample was not swamp gas
because of the high ethane content, but did not
suggest that it indicated the presence of oil. [For a
further discussion of this site see the section on wildcat
exploration.)
August 1954-Goodhue County, Vasa Township (T.
112 N., R. 16 W.), farm of A.F. Safe. A water well 62 feet
deep brought to the surface several gallons of an oily
substance that was thick, dark, and had the odor of oil or
gasoline. Although the owners did not believe so, the
source probably was a leaking gasoline tank located
about 100 feet from the drilling site. (Red Wing Daily
Republican-Eagle, August 23.)
Before September 1954-Renville County, either
Troy (T. 115 N., R. 35 W.) or Bird Island (T. 115 N., R. 34
W.) Township, farm of Francis Tisdale south of Olivia. A
water well at this farm and at other farms in the general
vicinity were allegedly affected by gaseous explosions on
several occasions and produced a fluid substance that
was highly flammable. (Willmar Daily Tribune, September 21, 1954.)
1975-Pope County, Lake Johanna Township (SE1/4
sec. 35, T. 123 N., R. 36 W.), the Visser farm near
Brooten. A water well drilled through 500 feet of glacial
deposits, 73 feet of Cretaceous strata, and-when drill ing
ceased in 1982-1,274 feet of Precambrian granitic
gneiss reportedly encountered a small quantity of an oillike substance at a depth of 777 feet. Apparently the "oil
Occurrences
show" persisted for only a few minutes. [For a further
discussion of this site see the section on wildcat exploration.)
1976-Carlton County, Split Rock Township (SE1/4
sec. 2, T. 46 N., R. 21 W.), farm of Lee Hattenberger near
Kettle River. A water well at 785 feet in the Thomson
Formation of Precambrian age produced salty-tasting,
fizzy water. In 1976 the toilet in the bathroom exploded-a candle had ignited the accumulating gas-and it
was found that gas in the water flowing from the faucets
would burn. Samples were collected on November 3,
1976 by E.C. Alexander, Jr., of the Department of
Geology and Geophysics at the University of Minnesota
and Matt Walton and G.B. Morey from MGS. Water
analyses by the University of Minnesota and Union
Carbide Corp. indicated that the water is a sodium,
calcium, magnesium brine. It was impossible to eliminate atmospheric contamination from the gas samples, so
it was necessary to normalize the analysis by deducting
atmospheric ratios of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon
dioxide. The residual gas consisted of approximately
98% methane, 2% helium, and less than 0.01 % ethane.
The isotopic composition of the methane is intermediate between petrogenic CH 4 and bacteriogenic CH 4,
and thus it is not "swamp gas" somehow entrained in
19
deep-circulating ground water. The black slates, which
are the host for this gas, are rich in graphite that probably
was derived from organic materials in the original clayey
mud. The methane most likely formed by the cooking of
ground water and the carbonaceous graphite under
conditions of moderate heat via the reaction: C + 2H 2 0
~CH4 + O 2 . We did not entertain the hypothesis that
the gas was primordial. MGS advised the farmer that he
had a most interesting geologic curiosity that had little or
no chance as a significant energy resource. For understandable reasons he was disinclined to accept this view;
see the following section on wildcat exploration.
April 13, 1982-Ramsey County. In a humorous
article head lined 01 L DISCOVERY-VADNAIS
HEIGHTS CRUDE ENOUGH TO QUELL SQUEAK, Jim
Nagel reported in the St. Paul Dispatch that oil (perhaps
enough to silence a squeaky hinge) was encountered in a
water well atthe headquarters of the H.B. Fuller Co. The
well log in MGS files records the presence of a black
substance in the Platteville-Glenwood interval (Middle
Ordovician) between 86 and 100 feet. Such occurrences
of "oil" in these rocks are fairly common throughout
southeastern Minnesota. They contain abundant fossils
and thin layers that locally have large concentrations of
organic material.
20
Wildcatting
WILDCAT EXPLORATION
FOR PETROLEUM IN MINNESOTA
"Wildcat" is the term used for exploration ventures in
territory not known to be productive. According to the
records of the Minnesota Geological Survey (MGS) the
first wildcat well for oil or natural gas was drilled in
Minnesota priorto 1887. Wildcatting since then has been
more or less continuous, and holes have been drilled at
one time or another in all parts of the state (Fig. 12).
Unfortunately, the state had no mechanism until the mid1970s for recording these ventures accurately, and thus,
although we know that these wells could number in the
thousands, we know almost nothing about them. The
following discussion is a selected review of the data in
publications and file reports of the MGS and its predecessor, the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey, and some contemporary newspaper accounts. For
convenience, the review is divided into five arbitrary time
periods: 1880-1900, 1900-1930, 1930-1950, and 19601983.
1880-1900
Major discoveries of oil and gas deposits in the 1880s
in Pennsylvania and states of the Upper Midwest led
many people to believe that valuable oil and natural gas
fields existed in Minnesota. Indeed for a time, this was a
reasonable assumption. First, the geologic principles
governing the occurrence of oil and natural gas deposits
were poorly understood, even in places where such
deposits had been found in commercial quantities. Second, the work of the Minnesota Geological arid Natural
History Survey had only recently begun, and the geology
of the state was still poorly understood.
On March 8, 1887, by act of the State Legislature,
state geologist N.H. Winchell was directed to make
practical and actual tests by drilling or digging for any
hidden mineral resources that he might deem likely to
exist in any of the rock strata of the state; $5,000 was
appropriated for 1887 and $5,000 for 1888. In Bulletin 5,
published in 1889, Winchell described the known occurrences of natural gas and reported what had been done by
the survey to investigate the possible gas-reservoirs in
Minnesota.
The Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey purchased a derrick, steam engine, and all hardware
necessary for a well 2,000 feet deep and 6 inches in
diameter, and chose a site near Freeborn. On June 16,
1888, Winchell wrote to the Minnesota Gas, Oil and Fuel
Company of Albert Lea, Minnesota, which was to perform the actual drilling, "I am satisfied ... that the gas
that issues at Freeborn is natural rock gas. In the absence
of reliable data for determining the character and age of
the underlying rock at Freeborn, I can only give you
hypothetical explanations of the source of this gas ....
The general geology of that part of the state wi II perm it the
existence of either one or two of those formations that
supply gas, at Freeborn, viz.: the Cretaceous, or the
Trenton [Ordovician] .... The "coal" that was sought by
shafting at Freeborn in 1873 and 1874 was Cretaceous
lignite .... [The Trenton] is well known in Indiana, in
Illinois and Ohio as the source of great quantities of
natural gas, and it may be the source of that at Freeborn.
Even if gas issues now from the Cretaceous, it may come
primarily from the Trenton. At Findlay, Ohio, it rose from
the Trenton through several hundred feet of strata, and at
the surface escaped for thirty years from the Niagara
[Silurian] limestone. It was only a deep well that penetrated the Trenton that revealed its real origin. So here, in
case of dri Iling at Freeborn, the drill ought not to cease till
the Trenton be reached, even if gas in considerable
amount should issue before reaching it."
Winchell's letter concludes, "In view of the importance of this investigation to the State at large, I shall take
pleasure in allowing the use of the deep well machinery
belonging to the State, in such a test; and under the law of
the appropriation made by the last Legislature, will allow
such further aid as I consistently can to have the exploration made thorough and complete."
The rig arrived at Freeborn in July of 1888 and a well
was begun which by December reached a depth of 950
feet. No natural gas or oil were encountered in commercial quantities. However H.C. Day of the company
reported finding a small quantity of oil in the Ordovician
limestone, but it was only temporary and no trace of it
could be found on a subsequent visit by Winchell.
Natural gas shows also were reported at 534 and 565 feet
in the St. Peter Sandstone, but these shows also could not
be confirmed by Winchell. When the hole had penetrated 50 feet of the st. Lawrence limestone of Cambrian
Wildcatting
96·
Figure 12. Locations of wildcat exploration activities described in the text. A
comparison with the frontispiece shows that many were conducted in areas where
natural gas had been encountered at shallow depths.
21
22
Wildcatting
age at 950 feet, Winchell terminated the survey's participation in the project because rocks of this age were not
believed to be a petroleum source.
Day and his backers, however, were determined to go
deeper despite difficulties caused by the water which
occurred together with the gas indications. As of the
writing of Bulletin 5 the machinery was still engaged in
the undertaking, but at the expense of the gas company.
No Cretaceous strata were encountered in the test
hole, but Winchell did not rule out the possibility that
some of the gas in Freeborn County was generated in
organic-rich Cretaceous units. He concluded that none of
the natural gas in the county derived from Ordovician
limestones, but rather that it came mostly from a sandy
layer overlain by clay in the glacial drift, and thus there
was little likelihood that any discoveries would be commercial in size. Already in 1889 it was evident to
Winchell that most of the rock formations that furnish gas
in the United States are lacking in Minnesota.
Bulletin 5 relates how Winchell's geologic conclusions were for the most part ignored by wildcatters.
"Experts" asserted that large deposits would be found in
the state simply by drilling to the "proper depth," and
investors listened eagerly. Over and over again various
"experts" cited the experience at Findlay, Ohio, where
the state geologist had delivered a lecture stating that
natural gas would never be found there, and gas was
discovered before he had time after his lecture to leave
town. This embarrassing event was a major blow to the
prestige of the young profession of geology in Minnesota,
for it confirmed the general suspicion that geologists
knew nothing about where oil or gas could be found
because they "had never been there."
Because an "expert from Pennsylvania" in the early
1880s insisted that deposits of natural gas could be found
in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area at several hundred feet of
depth, a group of local businessmen formed the st. Paul
Heat and Power Company to explore for these deposits.
Drilling began at several places including the State Fair
Grounds in what is now Falcon Heights, and in North St.
Paul, South St. Paul, and Faribault. Winchell was consulted about these sites, but his advice was ignored. That
he was later unable to obtain the well records must have
been the last straw, for Bulletin 5 remarks thatthese wells
"will go to posterity with no record except as a monument to the infatuation which can be inspired by the
positive assertions of a wanton adventurer in the minds of
men ignorant of geology but eager for wealth."
At about the same time, a deep well wasdrilled for gas
at Minneopa Falls near Mankato by a company of local
investors who sought the services of a well-known diviner
from Ohio, for which they payed him a fee of $250.
According to Winchell, the diviner "passed over the
ground and was taken with jerks and shakings so violently
in certain places that he could not endure the current. He
was obliged to stand on one foot, placing the other
against his knee to break the electric flow." He ultimately
selected the place where the investors themselves had
thought that gas might occur, and a l,OOO-foot hole was
drilled, finally intersecting Precambrian basement rocks.
No natural gas was found, confirming Winchell's earlier
conclusion that the geologic structure in this part of the
state was unsuitable.
Other deep wells were drilled at Duluth (1,507 feet)
and at Stillwater (3,500 feet) into Precambrian rocks
without encountering natural gas. We do not know why
these holes were drilled, but the geologic setting of both
places was obviously unsuitable for either natural gas or
oil.
A deep well at Moorhead appears to have been drilled
for gas. This well, which was drilled with public money,
was started without consulting the state geologist. When
Winchell finally saw the cuttings from the well, which
already was at a depth of 1,205 feet, he immediately
recognized that the dri II had entered Precambrian granitic gneiss. He urged that the drilling be stopped, stating
in a letter of May 8, 1889, "You ought to have stopped
when the drill struck the rock at the depth of 390 feet, the
rock being granitic and of that sort which forbids any
hope of obtaining artesian water or other product of
value."
The drilling continued, however, on the grounds that
"having gone so far, it was heart-rending to give it up
now." Cuttings from the deepened well also were sent to
Winchell who did not see any reason to change his
original opinion. The drilling continued, and the local
newspaper, the Fargo Argus, commented "Mayor Hansen of Moorhead says they intend to continue sinking the
Artesian well in spite of professor Winchell's prognostications. And in this the whole Red River Valley says'good for Hansen.' There is no geological or other
prescience that can guess dead sure on Red River Valley
matters. Success is what is wanted and Hansen shows
true-grit. "
A third set of cuttings down to 1,425 feet was
subsequently sent to Winchell. These cuttings contained
granitic fragments as before, but also included samples
from a "bed of quicksand near the bottom of the well from
which water quickly rose to near the top of the ground."
On examining the sample from this interval, Winchell
found "water-worn sand, ... films of iron rust, scales of
slag from some furnace, or fire box where coal was
burned, angular bright pieces of soft coal, ... and some
seeds which look fresh enough to sprout." To Winchell
this array of materials reflected the probable "intentional
tampering with the record, by which it was hoped the
enterprise would be pushed further." As of May 26,
1889, the mayor of Moorhead was still drilling in granite.
Obviously natural gas was never encountered.
1900-1930
Wildcatting during the first third of the 20th century
suggests that Minnesotans are just as gullible as they want
to be, for their state geologist's conclusions back in 1889
seem to have brainwashed hardly anybody. After all, the
pockets of gas really did exist, and where there was gas in
commercial deposits elsewhere, there commonly also
was oil. There were periodic reports of striking it rich
using divining rods. Logically, if one worked in an actual
oil field, one should develop expertise: Minnesotans
listened when "experts" from out of state spoke.
Wildcatting
As one example, at Foxhome in Wilkin County near
Fergus Falls, a farmer who needed water got unwanted
surprises instead. In one well at a depth of 200 feet there
was a rush of gas that forced earth 75 feet up the pipe; in
another there was a vein of what looked like crude oil at a
depth of 100 feet. By 1922 he was convinced of the
existence of a lake of oil beneath the Otter Tail-Wilkin
County border, and he wrote to then Governor J.A.O.
Preus asking for state aid in drilling for oil to a depth of
1,000 to 2,000 feet. He was unable to interest the state in
this venture, but he was able to involve several neighbors. The project touched off a small land boom and 126
lots were reported sold. Actual drilling started in November of 1925, but difficulties were immediately encountered-not enough water could be obtained to carry on the
drilling operations. The Minnesota Geological Survey
has no record of the results of this drilling venture, but
obviously no oi I or natural gas deposits were discovered.
(Minneapolis Journal, July 3, 1922 and November 22,
1925.)
The Rochester area of Olmsted County in southeastern Minnesota also was the site of an "oil boom" in the
early 1920s. Unlike the other exploration projects of this
period, the venture at Rochester was not based on any
previous evidence of oil or natural gas in the area.
The boom was initiated by a mining engineer from
Missouri who was "an old hand in the oil game." He
apparently had come to Rochester in 1923 for surgery
and while recovering, spent considerable time driving
around the countryside. Although at first reluctant, the
engineer finally confided to his doctor that the "lay of the
land" was similar to several oil fields he had seen out
west.
Ultimately the doctor and a local realtor, together
with the mining engineer, formed a syndicate called the
Rochester Oil and Development Co. The members of the
syndicate originally invited 25 local men to participate
who could afford not only to invest substantial sums, but
also to lose money should the hole bedry. However word
spread quickly that "prospects looked good for an oil
strike" near Rochester and people flocked to the realtor's
office demanding that they be allowed to invest. Although warned by the principals of the syndicate that they
could lose their money, 200 people were finally "allowed" to invest in the project. By September 8, 1923,
$125,000 of capital stock had been sold and from 10,000
to 20,000 acres of land had been leased from local
farmers.
After it was decided that oil occurred somewhere in
the Rochester area a "geologist" from flout west" who
was "versed in the art of reading the stone formations"
was hired to establish the precise location ofthe oil well.
After several months, a site was selected to the east of
Rochester on a high piece of ground that was claimed to
be the site of a dome in the bedrock.
State geologist W.H. Emmons spent an entire day
with backers of the project before drilling started, explaining why the Rochester area had little potential for oil
or natural gas, and that Precambrian granitic rocks would
23
be intersected at a depth of several hundred feet. Emmons
and geologists from the University emphasized that there
was little chance of finding oil or natural gas in Precambrian rocks, but the syndicate "expert" rationalized that
"inasmuch as oil has never been discovered in these
ancient rocks, there is no data based on practical experience that may serve as a guidel ine and that a discussion of
the possibilities necessarily rests entirely on theoretical
cons iderati ons."
By March of 1925 the drill had penetrated 9 feet of
glacial material, 417 feet of Ordovician strata, 766 feet of
Cambrian strata, and 2,033 feet of Precambrian sandstone and shale before encountering Precambrian granite
and schist at 3,225 feet. The fact that Precambrian
granitic rocks were not encountered at several hundred
feet tended to discredit the opinions of the MGS and was
used to lend credence to the idea that an oil deposit
would be found. The promoters issued bulletins from
time to time during the drilling, reporting the presence of
veins of natural gas that could be burned and the
presence of trace amounts of oil. Various out-of-state
"experts" appeared on the scene and predicted that oil
would be encountered with only a few hundred more feet
of drilling. When they gave up, the hole was at 3,265
feet, the deepest hole in the state at that time. Oil in
commercial quantities was never encountered, the "experts" disappeared, and the boom evaporated.
This story, from contemporary Minneapolis Journal
articles, the Rochester Post-Bulletin of January 14, 1983,
and the well log in MGS files, reads like a classic "con"
operation perpetrated on gullible investors. Correspondence in University archives from several shocked geologists from other states to state geologist W.H. Emmons
indicates that fees being charged to the project were
much higher than the going rates for such work elsewhere, and they were convinced that investors were
being "taken." However at least some of the principals
may have been sincere, because atthattime many people
still believed that oil or natural gas exists almost everywhere in the Earth's crust in a manner not explainable
by geology.
The following key ideas and excerpts from Minneapolis Journal articles on the goings-on at lake lillian in
Kandiyohi County provide an idea of the spirit of the
time.
March 19,1926. MINNESOTA WELL DUG FOR WATER
YIELDS 'PURE GASOLINE' WHERE EVEN PETROLEUM
DOESN'T EXIST
• 13 gallons of mysterious "gasoline" taken out of Axel
Lundquist's water well in the basement of his restaurant in Lake Lillian. The well is 19 feet.
• The "gasoline" is said to be so pure as to run A.
Lundquist's automobile.
• Geologists at the University of Minnesota said there
simply can't be any gasoline.
• Lundquist lowered a bucket in well to get water, got
gasoline instead.
• Erick Nordeen, a farmer 2 miles out of Lake Lillian,
24
Wildcatting
claims he skims his stock water tank every morning
and runs his tractor with it--too oily for stock to drink
unless he does this.
• Lundquist says he has been offered a $20,000 option
on his three lots with an 8% royalty from oil taken from
land.
• A year earlier a townswoman claimed she smelled oil
when excavators were digging in her basement.
• F.F. Grout of the Minnesota Geological Survey says
that the formations in that part of Minnesota couldn't
possibly yield petroleum, that nature doesn't yield
gasoline pure enough to be used in a gas engine. "I feel
confident in saying that if there is anything in that well
that will run a gasoline motor, it was put there by a
human being, or came there from a human agency."
July 10, 1926. FIRST OIL DRILLERS REACH LAKE LILLIAN
• Erection of drilling outfit brought hundreds of curious
persons.
• Just a year ago Axel Lundquist dug a hole that yielded
13 gallons of gasoline pure enough to run an automobile every day, in spite of protests of University geologists that it "couldn't be done."
• Will drill in the rear of Mr. Lundquist's famous basement.
July 26, 1926. LAKE LILLIAN OIL DRILLING TO BEGIN
• The drill has been moved to the William Troggan farm,
1 mile south of here.
April 1, 1927. BILL ASKS TEST OF LAKE LILLIAN OIL
WELL THEORY
The state of Minnesota may have geologists
attempt to solve the mystery of Lake Lillian's
gasoline and kerosene wells and test the theory
of a 75-year-old retired Methodist minister who
surveyed Lake Lillian's "oil fields" himself with a
new type of divining rod and declared that the
mysterious flow of gasoline and kerosene comes
to Lake Lillian through a sand wick, hundreds of
miles long, which runs up from the oil fields of
the south.
Senator V.E. Lawson and Representative H.S.
Nelson today brought before the legislature a
resolution calling for a state investigation to
determine whether there are any oil deposits
under lands in Kandiyohi County for which the
state holds mineral rights . ...
The proposed state geological survey would
test the theory of Rev. jacob Berger, 7626 Fremont Avenue No., who, with a divining rod with
which he has experimented 47 years, made a
survey of Lake Lillian . ...
Since oil has a tendency to rise above water,
Mr. Berger theorized, it was logical that the vast
amount of water which flows from Minnesota to
the Gulf of Mexico should force oil in southern
fields upward through a strata to Minnesota and
the long trip of oil through sand and limestone
would refine the oil so that it would come to the
surface in Minnesota as pure oil and gasoline, he
said.
just a year ago, Axel Lundquist, restaurant
man at Lake Lillian, started to dig a well for water
in the basement of his restaurant. ... For months
afterward, Mr. Lundquist bailed 78 gallons of
gasoline from his basement "filling station" every day. And geologists at the University of
Minnesota still contend that "any gasoline found
there has been placed there by a human
agency."
The Lawson-Nelson resolution failed to receive legislative approval, but Nelson never gave up his belief that
there was oil under Kandiyohi County. We do not know
when the Lake Lillian drillers gave up, but the lure of
Kandiyohi oil persisted.
Wildcat drilling for oil in 1928 included a venture at
Baudette in Lake of the Woods County and one at
Granite Falls in Yellow Medicine County, according to
Minneapolis journal articles on September 28, November 11, and December 3. An attempt was made, beginning in the summer of 1928, to evaluate the source of an
oil seepage at the Arnett farm near Dassel in Meeker
County, according to articles in the Minneapolis journal.
On June 1 of that year, an application was made to the
Minnesota Department of Commerce by the Northwestern Development Company of Minneapolis to sell stock
in Meeker, Wright, and Mcleod Counties, preliminary to
sinking a test well. The company was formed by several
Dassel and Minneapolis businessmen expressly for the
purpose of exploring for oil in the Dassel region. After it
was organized, the company retained a "petroleum
engi neerfrom Shelby, Montana," who asserted thatthere
is "plenty of evidence to indicate strong possibilities of oil
being found [in the Dassel vicinity] in commercial quantities." In this matter, F. W. Sardeson, formerly of the
Department of Geology at the University of Minnesota
and geologic consultant to the Minnesota Department of
Commerce held, "there is no oil to be found in Minnesota
outside of tank cars and filling stations." Predictably the
petroleum engineer rejoined with the old adage, "there is
only one way to find out definitely [if oil is present] and
that is to dig." Ultimately permission was given to sell a
limited amount of stock, with the proviso that no money
could be used to pay salaries to officers of the company
and that all funds collected be placed in a bank until
$10,000 were available to insure completion of the test
well. On September 20th, it was announced that a
"driller of oil wells from Cody, Wyoming" was contracted to sink the first test well.
The Meeker County News reported on May 9, 1929
the arrival of the first shipment of drilling equipment and
preparations to erect a 70-foot tower on the Arnett farm;
on February 20, 1930, it reported thatthe well was at 960
feet and that enough money had been raised to continue
drilling to a planned depth of 1,200 feet. This appears to
have been the last mention of the Dassel well, at least
during the rest of 1930.
Wildcatting
On November 28, 1929 the Meeker County News
reported the formation of a corporation to drill a test well
at Cosmos in Meeker County on the Nelson farm between Cosmos and Thompson Lake. A railroad spur was
being extended to transport the drilling equipment being
shipped from Texas. On April 17, 1930 the News
reported that the well was at 1,300 feet in hard gray
granite, and the drilling had stopped for repairs. On June
17, 1930 the News reported that the drilling, then at
2,100 feet and still in granite, was continuing. According
to that article, "One large pocket with heavy black
petroleum was struck some time ago." This apparently is
the final mention of the Cosmos well during 1930.
1930-1950
Records of wildcat drilling in Minnesota between
1930 and 1950 are scanty. However despite the warnings
of geologists at the University and MGS, several wells
were drilled in southeastern Minnesota during the
1930s. One well named the Lund-Gunberg No. 1 was
drilled sometime in 1935 near Rosemount (sec. 13, T.
115 N., R. 20 W.) in Dakota County. According to MGS
records, this well intersected 110 feet of glacial deposits,
822 feet of Paleozoic strata, and 1,468 feet of Precambrian sedimentary rocks, without producing any oil or
natural gas. Another well drilled near Blue Earth in
Faribault County during the period 1930-1937 also was
finished in Precambrian sedimentary rocks without producing oil or natural gas in commercial quantities.
Exploration wells were drilled for one reason or
another at other places in Minnesota, including Madison
in Lac Qui Parle County, Northome in Koochiching
County, Thief River Falls in Pennington County, Florian
in Marshall County, and Cokato in Wright County. The
idea of a "lake of oil" beneath Kandiyohi County had not
been forgotten, and wildcat wells were drilled atonetime
or another near Svea, Spicer, Kandiyohi, Atwater, and
New London. None of these wells produced oil or gas in
commercial quantities, although several may have
yielded small quantities of natural gas from glacial deposits at shallow depths.
In 1937 the Oil and Gas Journal, a trade magazine of
the petroleum industry, reported that an oil well called
No.1 Fee, which was rated at about 3 barrels per day of
37° A.P.I. crude oil, was completed about June 10 in
Walls Township, Traverse County, near the town of
Wheaton. Production was reported to be from the Dakota
Sandstone of Cretaceous age at a depth of 864 feet. The
discovery had started an active leasing campaign in the
area.
In an article on the same page, G.A. Thiel, geologist
for the Minnesota Geological Survey, described the
geologic setting of Traverse and Big Stone Counties and
noted that the sandstone beds in the base of the Cretaceous rocks are only a few inches to a few feet thick.
Moreover he reported that they had been penetrated by
artesian wells which showed that they were filled with
fresh water under sufficient hydrostatic head to bring the
water to or nearly to the surface. Furthermore, the
25
artesian wells in Walls Township had intersected Precambrian granite at depths of less than 450 feet. He also
noted that there were no secondary structures that might
have trapped oil in commercial quantities. The "structure" at No. 1 Fee was a beach ridge of Glacial Lake
Agassiz, and the acreage being leased was on similar
structures (beaches and moraines). Although it seems
likely that Thiel suspected a hoax, his conclusion is
scholarly in tone. "All subsurface relations in western
Minnesota indicate that the possibilities for commercial
oil or gas are exceedingly remote."
An attempt was made to drill for petroleum in the
Kiester Hills area in Faribault County from 1931 to 1933,
but was hampered by financial difficulties. A second well
near the same site began with the erection of a 96-foot
derrick on the Henry Katzung farm 2 miles north and half
a mile east of Kiester in August 1935. Drilling was
delayed by the failure of the state Securities Commission
to grant a permit, and apparently terminated when, as
reported in the Kiester Courier on September 3, 1936,
"strong winds brought down the derrick and smashed it."
Continued interest in the possibility of commercial oil
and gas in the Kiester Hills prompted Thiel to write an
article for the Oil and Gas Journal of July 28, 1938. The
interest was apparently based, not only on the occurrence of shallow gas deposits, but also on a report that the
Kiester Hills were underlain by a northwest-trending
structural trap with several hundred feet of closure.
Stating that such reports were based on "wishful thinking" and not on available geologic facts, Thiel observed
that deep wells drilled for water in and near the hills
indicate that the bedrock structure beneath Faribault and
Freeborn Counties is monoclinal with a gentle dip toward
the southeast at approximately 8 feet per mile.
Thiel's view of the bedrock structure was based on
data then available. Recent tests for a place to store
natural gas have located a small anticline arched about
100 feet above surrounding bedrock not far west of the
Kiester Hills. However, even had the wildcatters drilled
in the right place for their structural trap, they still would
have found neither oil nor gas. Thiel's article concludes
The glacial drift has furnished most of the
"indications" of gas in the Bricelyn-Kiester region. Numerous shallow water wells have encountered pockets of gas that "bounce the tools"
or occasionally throw out quantities of mud and
other rock debris. These "puffs" are of short
duration, and further drilling does not increase
the flow of gas. The highest gas pressure definitely recorded is 22 pounds. Such pressure
subsides in a few hours, but small quantities of
gas may issue from the wells for several years. No
gas has been encountered in holes drilled into
bedrock. Some has been reported in the channels of the upper part of the Devonian limestone.
It undoubtedly was derived from the drift also.
Since the only "indications" of oil or gas are
in the glacial drift, the probabilities of commercial productions are so remote that it is not
26
Wildcatting
practical to give the region serious consideration.
1950-1960
The advent of the second World War had an inhibiting effect on wildcat exploration in the state. However
once the war was over, wildcat activities soon resumed
their prewar role in the peacetime economy.
A man named Johnson who had lost money on the
1935 venture at Kiester Hills in Faribault County persisted in his belief that oil was there for the drilling.
Drilling equipment for the proposed 3,000-foot well
arrived by railroad in Bricelyn in March 1950, and
newspaper articles brought the project to the attention of
George Schwartz, then director of the Minnesota Geological Survey. Schwartz immediately wrote to Johnson,
asking to examine the drill cuttings after the company no
longer had use for them. In mid-September geologist
Malcolm P. Weiss, then a graduate student, called on
Johnson at Schwartz's request. Among other things,
Weiss's letter provided the following information:
The first hole caved in at about 600 feet in depth.
A second was drilled 50 feet away, and that hole
is now at 7,000 feet. The bottom of the hole is in
"clean, white sand, just as fine and white as
sugar." This sand is friable and causes some
difficulty in drilling because the casing cannot be
allowed to lag far behind the drill.
For two years Mr. Johnson has been an ardent
doodlebug fan, having learned the secret in
Illinois. His bug is a one-ounce bottle filled with
Illinois crude (only crude works) and suspended
by a string pierced through the cap. When over
oil it swings in a circle. When beside oil it swings
like a pendulum in the direction of the oil. I was
favored with a demonstration, using a puddle of
crude on a newspaper for the doodlebug "bait."
Mr. Johnson's manual dexterity is at a low ebb.
His hand movements are almost embarrassingly
obvious!
The Minnesota Geological Survey has no record as to
when and at what depth the drilling ended, but the
venture never produced commercial quantities of either
oil or natural gas.
Despite the number of dry holes that had been drilled
in southeastern Minnesota, yet another attempt was
made in 1955 by a group of investors from St. Paul and
Hastings, Minnesota. No information is available as to
why they selected the particular site 3 miles south of
Hastings, but this group apparently invested around
$18,000 in the venture. However 2 weeks after drilling
had begun, the hole caved in and buried the drill stem,
valued at about $6,000, and the venture was abandoned.
The discovery of petroleum in the Williston basin of
North Dakota in 1951 led to renewed and intense interest
in the possibility of commercial oil and gas deposits in
western Minnesota. This interest was especially strong in
Kandiyohi, Renville, and Swift Counties. In December of
1952, a syndicate obtained drilling rights on some
21,000 acres in the southwestern part of Kandiyohi
County and the adjoining part of Renville County. One
member of the syndicate claimed to have a "sixth sense"
for finding oi I and used that sense to select the site of the
first well. He believed very strongly in his ability to find
oil, stating that "a year from now, it is reasonable to
expectthere will be 150 wells in operation." When G.M.
Schwartz, director of the Minnesota Geological Survey,
was asked if there was any possibility of this, he replied
"none, absolutely none." Nevertheless a wildcat well
was drilled in the spring of 1954 in Crooks Township (T.
116 N., R. 36 W.) in northwestern Renville County 4
miles south of Prinsburg. According to the Willmar Daily
Tribune of September 21, 1954, the hole was drilled by
an "experienced oil well driller who had been previously
engaged in drilling operations in the oil fields in Texas
and Oklahoma." Apparently the hole intersected 640
feet of Pleistocene glacial deposits and 5 feet of granite.
The newspaper reported that a sandy layer containing oil
and gas was encountered between 290 and 390 feet. It
also reported that at a depth of 414 feet the dri II cut a
fisher [sic, fissure or crack] from which a bucket of pure
crude oil was obtained. The operation was halted by the
Minnesota Securities Commission which had questions
about the financing, but nonetheless the promoter "em_
phatically stated that 'the hole will be dug deeper' and
will prove his oftmade assertion that there is oil in the
area." As yet, no oil has been reported from Renville
County in commercial quantities.
In an attemptto quash rumors of extensive oil deposits
in the state, G.A. Thiel, then chairman ofthe Department
of Geology at the University of Minnesota, wrote a series
of popular articles in the 1950s on the geology of many of
the counties in Minnesota. The articles for Kandiyohi and
Swift Counties were printed in late 1954 by the Willmar
Tribune and the Benson Monitor, respectively, and several readers took exception in succeeding issues of the
newspapers.
Former State Representative Nelson, who had called
for state investigation of the Lake Lillian oil in 1927, was
the first to denounce Thiel's conclusions regarding Kandiyohi County. Citing the many shallow natural gas
occurrences, he asserted, "We have got more oi I in
Minnesota than 4 or 5 states south of us-including
Kansas which is known as an old oil state." Regarding
Precambrian granitic rocks as places to find oil, he wrote
that Minnesota geologists did not know anything about
oil "except what they had learned in books, as they
hadn't had any practical experience in the oil fields." As
far as Kandiyohi County was concerned, Nelson wrote,
"The state owns mineral rights on 10 sections of land ...
that I know of, and 1/2 of the land that I have checked has
oi I. ... " Noting that the state geologists had consistently
opposed this position since 1926, Nelson opined that the
Geology Department at the University of Minnesota had
"better come down off their high horse and do something
for the benefit of the people and the State of Minnesota."
As far as the "big oil companies" were concerned, "they
Wildcatting
don't want any oil discovered in the state because they
have leases on land which will take 100 years before they
get the leases dri lied out that they now have." Nelson was
not one to let geologic observations sway his personal
beliefs.
At about the same time, james R. Burnip of Benson
disputed Thiel's conclusions regarding the lack of commercial oil deposits in Swift County. It was obvious to
Burnip, as it was to Nelson, that the shallow gas deposits
indicated the presence of oil at depth. Although he
accepted the statement that granitic rocks were present at
depths of about 500 feet in Swift County, Burnip suggested that oil could occur possibly in "openings here
and there" or in "other formations coming with the
granite, or before the granite, or subsequent thereto,
excepting the overlying glacial drift, sand and shale."
Therefore he concluded that the possibility of oil under
Swift County, " ... cannot be answered definitely until a
drilling has been made to an adequate depth, which in
this locality would be approximately 2,000 feet." Burnip
was sure oil would be found at that depth because he had
a "special gift" whereby he could identify oil deposits by
measuring vibrations emanating from the oil, although
"no one realizes more fully than I, the fantastic nature of
the method I employ .... I get the same results in going
over the land in Swift County that I have obtained in going
overfields in oil-producing localities." As scientists, both
Thiel and Schwartz held divining to be useless for
locating oil or any other kind of geological material and
also believed that it was a common ploy in illegitimate
ventures. Burnip recognized this possibility, and was "in
full accord with the good officials of the state to protect
the citizens ... against the purchase of bogus stocks or
any form of illegitimate investments." However Burnip
protested that Thiel and Schwartz "should not stress their
opinion on this subject so strenuously as it would tend to
stifle the development along th is line in our state." Burnip
reasoned that because " ... the big oil companies depend
upon geologists for their oil information, therefore, so
long as the geologists definitely and persistently declare
there is no oil here they are going to believe it."
The letters express the popular suspicion that some
sort of conspiracy between geologists and the major oil
companies was keeping Minnesota's oil from being
exploited. They also show that even after 70 years of
repeated attempts and subsequent failures, many people
still believed that oil and natural gas could exist almost
anywhere in the earth's crust and could easily be found
by using divining techniques of one kind or another.
1960-1983
Divining was still in vogue from the 1960s to the
1980s. For example, during 1963 or 1964 a diviner
claimed to have "had a vision" that oil could be found
near North Branch in Chisago County. A local company
was formed and a hole was drilled to a depth of 675 feet
through mostly Precambrian sedimentary rocks without
encountering oil or gas. On December 14, 1981, the
Minneapolis Tribune reported that an "oil deposit" near
27
Ellsworth in Nobles County in southwestern Minnesota
was identified by dowsing using copper wires. The
dowser disagreed with geologists who said the area was
unsuitable for oil or gas because dowsing told him
otherwise. The site was being drilled by the Southwest
Oil Exploration Company, a group of local investors,
who reported Iy had $175,000 obi igated the day the
drilling started. The hole was drilled through 270 feet of
glacial drift, 265 feet of Cretaceous strata, and 610 feet of
Precambrian rocks without finding oil or natural gas. The
same paper on the same day also reported that a group of
farmers in nearby Murray County had engaged a "Texas
oilman and evangelist" to lead a prayerful search for oil
that the farmers were sure was there. As of this writing the
Minnesota Geological Survey is unaware of leasing or
wildcat drilling in Murray County; possibly the reported
need to come up with a million dollars killed enthusiasm.
The doodlebug discoveries of Henry j. Steinmetz
received tongue-in-cheek treatment in the january 23,
1981 edition of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Working at his
home in Indiana with a pendulum-bob and maps of
various parts of the country (for field work he uses
television rabbit ears), Stei nmetz detected the presence of
oil in Beltrami, Big Stone, Blue Earth, Koochiching,
Olmsted, Red Lake, Roseau, and Watonwan Counties.
Wells in all fields would produce more than 500 barrels a
day except in Big Stone which would produce 50 to 500
barrels a day. The fields, which range in size from a little
more than 1,000 acres to 7,600 acres, lie between 2,500
feet and 13,500 feet below the surface!
A wildcat hole more than 13,000 feet deep in Minnesota is awesome to contemplate. Compare the depths to
Precambrian crystall i ne strata (Fig. 10) and the depths
drilled at Rochester in 1925 and at Kettle River and
Brooten as described below. Producing wells in Pennsylvanian and Ordovician strata in the Fryburg Oil Field,
according to the North Dakota Geological Survey's
Educational Series No.1, are as deep as 13,750 feet, but
these wells are in deep basins of Paleozoic and younger
sedimentary rocks, in which conditions needed for the
formation of oil and gas on a significant scale exist. The
Precambrian basement rocks which underlie the basins
in North Dakota rise steadily toward the east and appear
at the surface in Minnesota as the margin of the Canadian
Shield. Nowhere in Minnesota are the Precambrian rocks
of the shield overlain by as much as 2,000 feet of
sedimentary rocks, and repeated tests have shown that
this is not enough for significant oil and gas deposits to
form.
During the 1970s and 1980s several wildcat exploration holes were drilled in places where small quantities of
natural gas or oil had been found previously. For example, a group of investors near Kettle River in Carlton
County organized Turmoil Inc. in january of 1979 to drill
a deep hole on the Hattenberger farm where natural gas
in the well water was literally explosive (see the section
on occurrences, 1976). According to newspaper accounts, $100,000 to $300,000 were spenton the project,
despite the advice of Matt Walton, director of the Minne-
28
Wildcatting
sota Geological Survey, "take the money to Las Vegas
-your chances of coming home a winner are a lot
better." The hole, already in Precambrian rock from 30
feet to 785 feet, was deepened to approximately 7,400
feet, and is now by all odds the deepest hole drilled in
Minnesota. The results were disappointing to the investors, but according to the last reports we have, the
investors still believe that oil is present and, "as soon as
we get this hole drilled and oil is coming out, they're
going to have to rewrite their textbooks." Walton would
agree that it would indeed be revolutionary, but he is
waiting to see the oil before revising more than a century
of work by the Minnesota Geological Survey.
Space-age technology in the form of remote-sensing
imagery from NASA and conventional aerial photographs
reportedly led the Atlantic Petroleum Corp. of Arlington,
Virginia, to believe thatthere are millions of dollars worth
of natural gas in southeastern Minnesota. The company,
which opened an office in Austin, Minnesota, in April
1982, leased the mineral rights, including water, on
approximately 100,000 acres. However on June 10,
1982, the Minneapolis Tribune reported that, because of
an industry-wide slowdown, the company was leaving
the state and postponing drilling operations for at least 2
years. Payment of one dollar per acre for the leases
reportedly was not to be made until the following year.
This operation is included here because, although air
photos and satellite imagery are useful exploration tools
in some parts of the world, they are not directly applicable in southeastern Minnesota. Where much of the
bedrock is covered by glacial debris, the features that can
be seen on the photographs reflect processes that occurred in the glacial deposits ratherthan in the underlying
rocks.
Oil near Brooten in west-central Minnesota was the
subject of a press conference on January 12, 1983. On
the following day Minnesotans could read
•
It spewed out of control for nearly 5 minutes before the
well was capped [the stock broker] said. Witnesses
said the gusher reached heights of 5 to 6 feet and
flowed at a rate of more than a barrel a minute (St. Paul
Pioneer Press).
•
Oil shot5 t06 feet into the air through a 3-inch pipe for
seven minutes (Minneapolis Star and Tribune quoting
brokerage).
• Oil gushed 5 or 6 feet into the air (Minnesota Daily,
quoting Wilmoth).
• It gushed almost 3 feet into the air and was totally
uncontrollable for about 7 minutes. Reports of a higher
gusher were "sl ightly exaggerated" (St. Paul Dispatch,
also quoting Wilmoth, but from an interview following
the press conference).
Geologists of the Minnesota Survey suddenly became, by our standards, wildly popular. They were
interviewed in person, on the telephone, on television,
and from as far away as Texas. What could we say-if the
oil was there, it was there. However, there were geologic
reasons for skepticism as to the production estimates
(originally of 250 barrels a day, later downgraded to 100).
These reasons have been outlined in this publication.
From the newspaper reports over the following
weeks, it appears that the venture began with an "oil
show" at the 777-foot depth in the water well drilled on
the Visser farm in 1975 (see the section on occurrences).
A firm named Orlyn Exploration Co. then performed
additional drilling in the hole to 1,847 feet, apparently as
money and equipment were available, and by June of
1981 they had secured leases for drilling on 70,000
acres. The company is a group of local investors.
In September of 1982 another firm, Earth Science
Explorations, Inc. of Le Sueur, was brought in as operating partner. Doug Wilmoth of Kansas City, Mo., and
Petroleum Specialists, Inc. of Williston, North Dakota,
were eventually hired to do the actual work at the site.
Limited partnerships were sold to 34 investors by a
Minneapolis stock brokerage, whose prospectus warned
investors of the high risk involved. They were quoted as
saying that nobody having less than a million dollars or
less than $200,000 annual income should invest.
The Minneapolis Star and Tribune reported on January 14, 1983 that Wilmoth had put a drinking cup down
the old well and found itfull of crude oil when he pulled it
up; thus his work on "Visser No.1" seems to have
involved only the pump. The premium quality of the oil,
described ecstatically at the initial press conference,
allegedly was determined from Wilmoth's first cupful.
By January 19 the Star and Tribune had interviewed
Steve Hoffman, a field supervisor for Halliburton Services, whose crew was pouring cement to set the well's
casing when the great event occurred. It reported that
Hoffman claimed the well had yielded mostly water,
although "we did see there was an oil skim on top" of
water samples he collected in jugs.
The project was in the news repeatedly overthe next 3
weeks, mainly because of various difficulties with the
pump. On February 4, an estimated 2 barrels of oil were
reported, and on February 20 ("We've put production in
the tank"), 70 barrels of an oil-bearing fluid. On February
4 the well was primed with about 10 barrels of water; we
do not know how much of the initial "gusher" and later
"production" was priming fluid. Drilling had begun for a
second well 21f2 miles away, but was temporarily abandoned in late February when a blockage in the hole
hindered drilling.
On February 9 in a copyrighted article the Star and
Tribune broke the news of its 3-week investigation:
'[Wilmoth] has left in recent years in several states a trail
of investors who say they were defrauded, lawsuits
seeking thousands in damages, bouncing checks, unpaid
judgments, ignored subpoenas, and contempt-of-court
citations." The paper had interviewed a lot of angry
people. It also had interviewed Wilmoth who denied the
allegations.
With its own reputation now threatened, the stock
brokerage called another press conference to make it
clear that Wilmoth was only an employee who had been
hired because of his skills in bringing in oil wells.
Conclusions
In the first week in April, after another attempt at
developing the Visser well, a spokesman announced that
the well produced only a "minute amount, a slight trace,
not even 1 percent of oil" and concluded that it "won't
produce any commercial quantities of oil and should be
plugged and abandoned." As to the second well, it would
cost $25,000 to $30,000 to redrill it, and because of the
financial condition of the project, redrilling could not be
recommended. The entire project was reported to be at
least $400,000 in debt and anticipating a potential tangle
of legal problems.
Some concluding comment on the Brooten business
would seem in order. It has not been established how
much, if any, oil originated in the rock at the site.
Analytical information in our files suggests that there was
29
no appreciable quantity of natural hydrocarbons in the
hole. Furthermore there is no scientifically valid reason
for thinking that there could be.
Epilogue: The Star and Tribune of August 25, 1983
reported that drilling will be resumed on the site, and
quoted the president of Orlyn Exploration as saying,
"They don't want oil in this dang state. That's the whole
problem. I think we have more oil in this state than they
got in a lot of them. There's been a lot of time spent on
this. All we would like is a chance to prove our point."
The conspiracy theory of Nelson and Burnip in 1927 and
the sentiment of the folks at Moorhead in 1889 about its
being "heart-rending, having gone so far, to give it up
now" are still with us.
CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, what can be said about the possibility
offinding petroleum deposits in Minnesota? All of Minnesota is underlain by Precambrian rocks of one kind or
another. In general petroleum is rarely found in such
rocks. Some commercial occurrences have been described, but not in Minnesota. The general metamorphism and the lack of porosity and permeability of most
Precambrian rocks make them unsuitable as reservoirs,
even for water. In Minnesota .there are virtually no
prospects of future commercial petroleum discoveries in
Precambrian rocks, because where they have any porosity and permeability, there are no source beds.
Similarly the glacial deposits themselves everywhere
lack the attributes necessary for large petroleum deposits.
Nonetheless many water wells dug or drilled to shallow
depths have encountered small pockets of gas under
pressure high enough to "bounce the tools" and throw
out sand and rock debris. These gases were formed by the
bacterial decay of buried swamp or forest deposits and
are not "indications" of larger occurrences at greater
depths.
Unlike the Precambrian and Pleistocene formations,
the intervening rocks of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age
have some of the attributes necessary for a major petroleum deposit to occur. These rocks, however, lack the
deposits which could have been source beds for petroleum, and they were never buried to depths sufficient to
produce crude oil.
It is important to remember that thousands of water
wells have been drilled in Minnesota, but only a few of
them have yielded any trace of oil or natural gas.
Furthermore, not one of the drill holes specifically sited
by whatever means for oil or natural gas in Minnesota has
intersected petroleum deposits of any commercial significance. Given these facts, there is no reason to doubt the
correctness of Winchell's conclusion in 1889 that there is
little possibility of finding commercial petroleum deposits in Minnesota. All the additional experience and data
that have accumulated since 1889 have only supported
his conclusion. The geologic conditions for significant
deposits of oil and gas do not exist in Minnesota.
30
Bibliography
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
A list of publications is available on request from the
Minnesota Geological Survey, 2642 University Avenue,
St. Paul, MN 55114-1057. Nontechnical publications on
oil or on Minnesota geology, most of which can be
purchased from MGS, include the following books and
maps.
McPhee, John, 1983, In Suspect Terrain: New York,
Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 210 p. (not available from MGS).
Ojakangas, R. W., and Matsch, C. L., 1982, Minnesota's
Geology: Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press,
255 p. (paperback, $16.95).
San some, c.J., 1983, Minnesota Underfoot, a Field
Guide to the State's Outstanding Geologic Features:
Bloomington, Minnesota, Voyageur Press, 224 p. (paperback, $9.95).
Small-scale (1 inch = 50 miles) maps of Minnesota in
color with explanatory texts that have been prepared by
the Minnesota Geological Survey ($1.00 each) are:
Bedrock geology (M-24)
Quaternary (surficial) geology (5-4)
Bedrock hydrogeology (5-5)
Quaternary hydrogeology (5-6)
Bedrock outcrops (5-10)
Aeromagnetic anomaly map (5-11)
Bouguer gravity anomaly map (5-12)